At the beginning of yesterday's sociology class, Dr. Smith showed highly graphic pictures of naked men and women to illustrate the different forms that pornography can take. After this 5-minute slide show, Dr. Smith gave a 45-minute lecture of pornography and modern society. However, immediately after the class ended, the students had no memory of the lecture--all they could recall were the sexually explicit photographs shown at the start of class. This impaired memory is illustrative of:
A) the anterograde amnesic effect
B) the retrograde amnesic effect
C) the von Restorff effect
D) the recency effect

Question

At the beginning of yesterday's sociology class, Dr. Smith showed highly graphic pictures of naked men and women to illustrate the different forms that pornography can take. After this 5-minute slide show, Dr. Smith gave a 45-minute lecture of pornography and modern society. However, immediately after the class ended, the students had no memory of the lecture--all they could recall were the sexually explicit photographs shown at the start of class. This impaired memory is illustrative of:
A) the anterograde amnesic effect
B) the retrograde amnesic effect
C) the von Restorff effect
D) the recency effect

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The anterograde amnesic effect is the inability to form new memories after a certain point in time, typically due to damage to the hippocampus. In this case, the students were unable to remember the lecture that Dr. Smith gave after the slide show, but they could remember the sexually explicit photographs that were shown at the start of class. This suggests that the students' anterograde memory was impaired, which is consistent with the anterograde amnesic effect.

At the Beginning of Yesterday's Sociology Class, Dr