Selena recently had to change the password that she uses to log in to Canvas; whenever she tries to remember what it is, she thinks of her old password instead. Selena is most likely the victim of

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Let’s unpack the scenario and the options to understand what best explains Selena’s experience.
Option 1: anterograde amnesia. This condition involves difficulty forming new memories after a brain event, so a person cannot learn or remember new information. It wouldn’t typically cause an old memory to dominate recall of a new password; rather, it impairs new learning in general. 
Option 2: proactive interference. This phenomenon occurs when previously learned information interferes with the ability to learn or remember new information. In Selena’s case, her old password keeps coming to mind and disrupts her ability to recall the new password, which fits the description of proactive interference. 
Option 3: retroactive interference. This happens when newly learned information hampers the recall of previously learned information. If Selena’s new password made her forget the old password rather than the old password intruding, retroactive interference would be implicated. Since the problem is the old password intruding, this option does not align with her experience. 
Option 4: retrograde amnesia. This form of amnesia involves loss of preexisting memories for events prior to a certain point in time, not the intrusion of old memories into the recall of new information. It doesn’t explain why the old password would intrude when attempting to remember the new one.
In summary, the pattern described—old information intruding on the recall of newer information—best matches proactive interference, while the other options describe different memory phenomena that do not fit Selena’s symptom.

PSYC-2010-003 (Spring 2025) Quiz 6 (Memory)

Selena recently had to change the password that she uses to log in to Canvas; whenever she tries to remember what it is, she thinks of her old password instead. Selena is most likely the victim of

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