Question

Belinda and john were best friends through their school years. belinda now works in a café and has become good friends with her colleague, jim. however, belinda often finds herself referring to jim as john, even though she has not spoken to john for at least four years. belinda’s confusion with these names may be attributed to the occurrence of:____________
a. proactive interference.
b. retroactive interference.
c. retrograde amnesia.
d. anterograde amnesia.

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer to this question is A. Proactive interference  

Explanation:

Proactive interference occurs when past memories hold back an individual from retaining new memories.

It occurs when old information prevents one from remembering a new set of information.

In the case of Belinda above, her past interaction with John is preventing is preventing her from recalling her colleague, Jim name and thus referring to him as John. This can be categorized as a proactive interference

Hence the answer is    A. Proactive interference  

Answer 2

Answer:

Proactive Interference

Explanation:

Proactive Interference is one of the Interference theories. It occurs when older memories interfere with the retrieval of newer memories. In this form of Interference, learning a new task can be difficult because of an old task that had been learnt. In this case, Belinda mixing up her current friend's name, Jim, with her best friend from school John.

Interference Theory is a theory that explains how and why forgetting occurs in long-term memory. There are 2 types of Interference Theories:

- Proactive Interference: as explained above

- Retroactive interference: this is when newer memories interfere with the retrieval of older memories.