Question at position 39 At your old apartment, you had to take out the trash every Friday. However, at your new apartment, the trash comes on Wednesdays. Now, you can never seem to remember to take the trash out in time (you keep thinking it needs to be taken out on Friday). This is an example of what type of forgetting?At your old apartment, you had to take out the trash every Friday. However, at your new apartment, the trash comes on Wednesdays. Now, you can never seem to remember to take the trash out in time (you keep thinking it needs to be taken out on Friday). This is an example of what type of forgetting?cue overloadretroactive interferencememory traces/engramsproactive interferenceClear my selection

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Let's break down what each option means in the context of forgetting and apply it to the trash-scheduling situation.
Option 1: cue overload. This idea suggests that retrieval fails because there are too many cues tied to a memory, making it harder to access the intended one. In this scenario, there isn’t a problem of juggling too many cues; instead, the problem is that the previously learned Friday routine is getting in the way of recalling the new Wednesday schedule. So cue overload doesn’t fit well here.
Option 2: retroactive interference. This type of forgetting occurs when newly learned information disrupts or interferes with memory for previously learned information. If you had learned a Wednesday schedule after Friday, retroactive interference would be about the new day interfering with the old. However, the current situation is the opposite: the old Friday habit is interfering with remembering the new Wednesday day. So retroactive interference is not the best fit.
Option 3: memory traces/engrams. Engrams are the physical traces of a memory in the brain. Forgetting can involve degradation or loss of these traces, but the scenario described is about confusion between two schedules rather than a loss of a specific memory trace. Thus this option addresses a lower-level substrate issue rather than the type of forgetting at play.
Option 4: proactive interference. This occurs when older information interferes with the learning or recall of new information. Here, your long-standing Friday routine (old information) continues to push you to take out the trash on Friday, interfering with remembering the new Wednesday pickup day. This exactly matches proactive interference, where the past memory disrupts current recall.
In summary, while cue overload, retroactive interference, and memory traces describe other memory phenomena, the situation characterized by the old Friday habit getting in the way of remembering the new Wednesday schedule aligns best with proactive interference.

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