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 do so is a severe problem for which theory of forgetting?
A) interference
B) decay or disuse
C) encoding failure
D) retroactive interference

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The ability of people to recall the name of their kindergarten teacher after many years, despite not having thought about them for a long time, challenges the decay or disuse theory of forgetting. This theory suggests that memories fade or are lost over time simply because they are not used or retrieved, which is contradicted by the participants' ability to recall such a specific detail from their distant past.

A Psychologist Asks People to Recall the Name of Their