Final answer:
The experience of suddenly waking up at 3 am with a disappointing exam result stuck in your mind is an example of persistence, which is Schacter's seventh sin of memory and involves involuntary recall of unwanted memories.
Step-by-step explanation:
Recall the last time you suddenly awoke at 3 am, unable to keep out of your mind a disappointing result on an important exam. This is an example of persistence.
Persistence is one of Schacter's Seven Sins of Memory, specifically the last one, and refers to the repeated, involuntary recall of unwanted memories, particularly unpleasant ones. It's a failure of our memory system that can interfere with our ability to concentrate on other things.
This can happen for a variety of emotionally charged experiences, such as witnessing a horrifying event or, as in this case, dealing with the stress of an important exam. Similar to other memory errors, such as absentmindedness, which involves lapses in memory due to breaks in attention, or blocking, where a person temporarily cannot access stored information, persistence is a common memory phenomenon that many people experience.