Editing Recall (memory) (section)

===Interference===
In the absence of interference, there are two factors at play when recalling a list of items: the recency and the primacy effects. The recency effect occurs when the short-term memory is used to remember the most recent items, and the primacy effect occurs when the long-term memory has encoded the earlier items. The recency effect can be eliminated if there is a period of interference between the input and the output of information extending longer than the holding time of short-term memory (15–30 seconds). This occurs when a person is given subsequent information to recall preceding the recall of the initial information.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Bjork | first1 = R.A. | last2 = Whitten | first2 = W.B. | year = 1974 | title = Recency-Sensitive Retrieval Processes in Long-Term Free Recall | url =https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/22374/1/0000823.pdf | journal = Cognitive Psychology | volume = 6 | issue = 2| pages = 173–189 | doi=10.1016/0010-0285(74)90009-7| hdl = 2027.42/22374 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> The primacy effect, however, is not affected by the interference of recall. The elimination of the last few items from memory is due to the displacement of these items from short-term memory, by the distracting task. As they have not been recited and rehearsed, they are not moved into long-term memory and are thus lost. A task as simple as counting backwards can change memory recall; however an empty delay interval has no effect.<ref name="Cohen">{{cite journal | last1 = Cohen | first1 = R.L. | year = 1989 | title = The Effects of Interference Tasks on Recency in the Free Recall of Action Events | journal = Psychology Research | volume = 51 | issue = 4| pages = 176–80 | doi=10.1007/bf00309145| pmid = 2616696 | s2cid = 23747940 }}</ref> This is because the person can continue to rehearse the items in their working memory to be remembered without interference. Cohen (1989) found that there is better recall for an action in the presence of interference if that action is physically performed during the encoding phase.<ref name="Cohen"/> It has also been found that recalling some items can interfere and inhibit the recall of other items.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Roediger | first1 = H.L. | last2 = Karpicke | first2 = J.D. | year = 2006 | title = The Power of Testing Memory: Basic Research and Implications for Educational Practice | journal = Perspectives on Psychological Science | volume = 1 | issue = 3 | pages = 181–210 | doi = 10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00012.x | pmid = 26151629 | s2cid = 2184171 | url = http://psych.wustl.edu/memory/Roddy%20article%20PDF%27s/Roediger%20%26%20Karpicke%20%282006%29_PPS.pdf | access-date = 2017-10-28 | archive-date = 2017-08-29 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170829234000/http://psych.wustl.edu/memory/Roddy%20article%20PDF%27s/Roediger%20%26%20Karpicke%20%282006%29_PPS.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> Another stream of thought and evidence suggests that the effects of interference on recency and primacy are relative, determined by the ratio rule (retention interval to inter item presentation distractor rate) and they exhibit time-scale invariance.<ref>'Primacy and Recency in the Continuous Distractor Paradigm' Steven E Poltrock and Colin M MacLeod, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 1977, Vol 3</ref>