Billy has just returned home from visiting his grandparents. His grandfather always had a jar of jelly beans on the table, and his mother asked Billy about the jar. "Sure," says Billy, "it was right there where it always was." Billy's mother knew that the jar was gone. The grandfather had recently been diagnosed with diabetes and had cut down on his sugar intake. Why did Billy remember seeing the jar of jelly beans?
A) he probably has a damaged hippocampus
B) he was using the representativeness heuristic
C) he had repressed the memory of his trip
D) he reconstructed his memory using new and old information

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Billy's memory was likely reconstructed using new information (the fact that the jar of jelly beans was always there) and old information (his past experiences with his grandfather's jar of jelly beans). This is a common occurrence in memory recall, where memories are not always accurate representations of past events.

Billy Has Just Returned Home from Visiting His Grandparents