Which of the following theories best explains how forgetting can occur by encoding failure?

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Question restatement: The prompt asks which theory best explains forgetting that occurs due to encoding failure.
Option 1: Inhibition theory. This theory attributes forgetting to active suppression or inhibition of memory traces, not to a failure to encode information in the first place. Since encoding failure is about whether information is encoded at all, inhibition does not directly explain encoding failure, making this option misaligned.
Option 2: Decay theory. Decay posits that memory traces fade over time if not used. While decay explains some forms of forgetting, it does not address forgetting caused by the information never being encoded properly in the first place. Therefore, it does not capture encoding failure.
Option 3: None of the options. If encoding failure is the mechanism, we would expect a theory that explicitly accounts for failures to encode. Among the listed theories, none explicitly describes encoding failure as the primary cause, so this option correctly acknowledges that gap.
Option 4: Interference theory. Interference suggests that forgetting results from other information disrupting the memory trace during retrieval or storage. This explains retrieval competition, but not the initial encoding process, so it does not directly explain encoding failure.
Summary of reasoning: In encoding failure, the information never gets into memory to begin with. The provided theories—Inhibition, Decay, and Interference—each describe forgetting after encoding has occurred (via suppression, time-based decay, or competing information during retrieval/storage). None of them directly model encoding failure, which is why the option 'None of the options' is the most accurate choice among the given alternatives.
Note on the reasoning flow: I compared each theory against the specific mechanism of encoding failure, highlighting the mismatch between the theory's primary explanation and the encoding-failure mechanism, to clarify why none of the listed theories fits perfectly.}

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Which of the following theories best explains how forgetting can occur by encoding failure?

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