Memory Reactivation Predicts Resistance to Retroactive Interference: Evidence from Multivariate Classification and Pattern Similarity Analyses.

Reactivating a previously encoded memory is believed to provide an opportunity to strengthen the memory, but also to return the memory to a labile state, making it susceptible to interference. However, there is debate as to how memory reactivation elicited by a potentially interfering event influences subsequent retrieval of the memory. The findings of the current study indicate that reactivating features idiosyncratic to a particular experience during interference only influences subsequent memory when interference is relatively weak. Critically, reactivation of generic contextual information predicts subsequent source memory when retroactive interference is either strong and weak. The results indicate that reactivation of generic information about a prior episode mitigates forgetting due to retroactive interference.