Question

After looking up a friend's new number in the phone book, Franklin discovers that the pay phone is being monopolized by someone. Assuming that Franklin is not rehearsing the number, what is the longest period of time that he can wait without forgetting the number entirely?

Answer 1

Answer:

20 seconds

Explanation:

It should be understood that, the ability of a person to hold an information before forgetting it is known as short-term memory. This means that short memory is limited and decay rapidly.

The short-term memory can only store limited amount of information for quite short period of time , usually 20 seconds.

It should be noted that, the short-term memory allows recall for a period of several seconds to a minute at maximum without rehearsal.

In this case, Franklin will only be able to remember the number for a period of several seconds since he was not rehearsing.

Answer 2

Answer:

20 seconds

Explanation:

20 seconds is the period it would take Franklin to forget the numbers completely as it wasn't rehearsed. Usually the information stored in short-term memory should be stored for approximately 20 to 30 seconds, but it can be just seconds if rehearsal or active maintenance of the information is prevented such as the case of Franklin above.