Question

Deanna studied Spanish in high school. In college she registered for a remedial French course. When required to speak in French during class discussion with her teacher and classmates, Deanna frequently responds with Spanish words instead of French words. This is one example of ________.

Answer 1

The correct answer is the reconstructive nature of memory

Reconstructive memory refers to the way memories are assembled from bits of information. Memories are not perfectly formed, and they depend on external influences to develop the whole image. These influences can be anything, like one person's own expectations or other people's suggestions.

Many people want to believe that memories are perfect and cannot be shaped by information from outside memory. However, in memory recovery, there are blind spots. The brain fills these gaps, which is reconstructive memory. When recalling a memory, a person will remember pieces of it and, in order to form a general memory, add things to it, or reconstruct it.