psych module 33
Muhammad has been in his school cafeteria hundreds of times. It is a large room, and there are nine free-standing pillars that support the roof. One day, to illustrate the nature of forgetting, Muhammad's teacher asks him how many pillars there are in the cafeteria. Muhammad has difficulty answering the question, but finally replies that he thinks there are six pillars. What memory concept does this example illustrate?
Encoding failure
The mental activity associated with remembering, thinking, and knowing is called
cognition.
The eerie sense of having previously experienced a situation is known as
déjà vu.
Austin can't remember Jack Smith's name because he wasn't paying attention when Jack was formally introduced. Austin's poor memory is best explained in terms of
encoding failure.
The famous Ebbinghaus forgetting curve indicates that how well we remember information depends on
how long ago we learned that information.
Arnold so easily remembers his old girlfriend's telephone number that he finds it difficult to recall his new girlfriend's number. Arnold's difficulty best illustrates
proactive interference.
Suzanne gets a new phone number. Each time she tries to give someone the new number, she gives her old one instead. The fact that her old number is causing difficulty in her remembering of the new one is an example of
proactive interference.
Judy is embarrassed because she momentarily fails to remember a good friend's name. Judy's poor memory most likely results from a failure in
retrieval.
After studying biology all afternoon, Alonzo is having difficulty remembering details of 8the organic chemistry material that he memorized that morning. Alonzo's difficulty best illustrates
retroactive interference.
After reading a newspaper report suggesting that drunken driving might have contributed to a recent auto accident, several people who actually witnessed the accident began to remember the driver involved as traveling more recklessly than was actually the case. This provides an example of
the misinformation effect.
