A psychologist asks people to recall the name of their kindergarten teacher. Surprisingly, the majority of people correctly do this and comment, "Gee whiz, I haven't thought about that old bat [or old coot] in years!" Their ability to remember their teacher's name tends to conflict with which theory of forgetting?
A) interference theory
B) decay or disuse
C) encoding failure
D) retroactive interference

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The ability of people to recall their kindergarten teacher's name after many years, despite not having thought about them, conflicts with the decay or disuse theory. This theory suggests that memories fade or are lost over time simply because they are not used, which doesn't seem to apply in this scenario where the memory remains accessible after a long period of disuse.

A Psychologist Asks People to Recall the Name of Their