Question

Liam reads a list of nonsense words and then has a conversation. which of the following best describes liam's memory of the list?

a) liam will only remember words from the end of the list because they have been rehearsed.
b) liam will have a reduced recency effect because he was distracted by the conversation.
c) liam will have a hard time recalling any of the words because he was distracted after reading the list.
d) liam will remember all the words equally because some of them may have been used in the conversation.

Answer 1

Liam's memory of the list will likely demonstrate a reduced recency effect due to the distraction from the conversation, which interferes with the rehearsal necessary for short-term memory retention.

Step-by-step explanation:

The best description of Liam's memory of the list of nonsense words after having a conversation is b) Liam will have a reduced recency effect because he was distracted by the conversation. The recency effect refers to the phenomenon where individuals tend to remember items at the end of a list better because they are rehearsed more recently. However, if an individual is distracted immediately after being presented with information, as Liam was with the conversation, the recency effect can be diminished. This is because the distraction interferes with the rehearsal process that would typically reinforce short-term memory retention.