Final answer:
Eli's inability to recall the name of his state's capital when asked by his teacher is a common example of forgetfulness, which is the loss of information from long-term memory, rather than amnesia or encoding failure.
Step-by-step explanation:
Eli knows the name of the capital of his state, but he forgets it when his teacher asks. This is known as forgetfulness. Forgetfulness refers to the loss of information from long-term memory and is something everyone experiences. It is different from amnesia, which is the loss of long-term memory typically due to disease, physical trauma, or psychological trauma. Another concept is encoding failure, where information never gets stored in memory because it wasn't encoded properly in the first place due to a lack of attention to detail.
In Eli's situation, the momentary inability to recall the state capital when put on the spot is a common experience and likely related to a temporary block or a lapse in memory retrieval, rather than a profound loss of memory or failure to encode the information initially.