proactive interference

Proactive interference occurs when old memories or information interfere with the ability to learn or recall new information. For example, if you’ve learned to drive a car with a manual transmission, it might be harder to learn an automatic transmission because your previous experience influences how you approach the new task. Essentially, previous knowledge can sometimes hinder the acquisition or retrieval of new information, making learning less efficient. This phenomenon highlights how our existing memories can interfere with the process of forming or recalling new ones, especially when the information is similar or related.