It had been five years since Merrill had taken a psychology course, and he found himself back in school taking Introduction to Psychology all over again. Unfortunately, Merrill had a difficult time remembering anything that he had learned previously. Merrill's forgetting in this situation is most likely due to

• A. the primacy effect.
• B. the recency effect.
• C. decay.
• D. proactive interference.

Answer: (C)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand the context: Merrill is experiencing difficulty in recalling information from a psychology course he took five years ago.
2. Identify the concept of 'decay': In psychology, decay refers to the fading of memory traces over time when they are not accessed or used.
3. Differentiate between decay and other memory-related concepts: The primacy effect refers to better recall of items at the beginning of a list, while the recency effect refers to better recall of items at the end of a list. Proactive interference occurs when older memories interfere with the retrieval of newer information.
4. Analyze the situation: Since Merrill's difficulty is related to the passage of time and not interference from other memories or list position effects, decay is the most relevant explanation.
5. Conclude that Merrill's forgetting is likely due to decay, as it aligns with the concept of memory traces weakening over time without reinforcement or retrieval.