Jed walks by a billboard advertising hamburgers on his way to get an afternoon snack. He had intended to get an ice cream cone, but instead orders French fries. According to the spreading activation model, the hamburger made Jed want French fries because:
A) hamburgers and French fries are part of the prospective memory
B) hamburgers activated the nodes for French fries
C) hamburgers were encoded with French fries
D) hamburgers and French fries are part of the same procedural memory

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

According to the spreading activation model, when a concept is activated in the mind, related concepts are also activated to some degree. In this scenario, the sight of the hamburger billboard would have activated a node for hamburgers in Jed's mind, which in turn would have activated the node for French fries due to the strong association between the two foods. This would explain why Jed changed his mind and decided to order French fries instead of the ice cream cone he had originally intended to buy.

Jed Walks by a Billboard Advertising Hamburgers on His Way