Final answer:
Motivated forgetting of distressing memories from consciousness due to anxiety is known as repression. Repression serves as a psychological defense mechanism, unlike retrograde or anterograde amnesia, which are due to neurological issues affecting memory retention and formation.
Step-by-step explanation:
A type of motivated forgetting in which anxiety-arousing memories are blocked from consciousness is known as repression. Repression acts as a defense mechanism similar to turning up the radio to drown out a noise that causes distress. This way, the overwhelming memory is temporarily repressed and becomes inaccessible in conscious awareness. Sigmund Freud first described repression in the context of psychoanalytic theory. In psychology, it's recognized as a way that our minds deal with memories or thoughts that are too difficult or painful to face directly.
It's important to differentiate between the types of amnesia and repression. Retrograde amnesia is the loss of memories from before an event, such as a traumatic injury. Conversely, anterograde amnesia is when new information can't be stored following a traumatic event due to its impact on memory-consolidation processes, often involving the hippocampus. Unlike these types of amnesia, where memory loss is due to neurological factors, repression is a psychological process for protecting oneself from emotional distress.