The fact that few people can accurately describe a penny even though they have handled thousands of them is an example of a(n)
A) consolidation failure.
B) encoding failure.
C) motivated forgetting.
D) retrieval failure.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This phenomenon is an example of encoding failure, which occurs when the brain does not create a strong memory link for the information at the time of encoding, leading to the inability to recall it later. In this case, despite frequent handling, the details of a penny are not encoded into long-term memory because people do not pay attention to those details.

The Fact That Few People Can Accurately Describe a Penny