Concept · Cognitive Bias: Memory biases and distortions
Blocking
Origin: Schacter, 1999/2001
Biological Parallel
When two songbird species compete for the same niche, the dominant pattern suppresses the weaker—competitive exclusion operates in neural networks too. Strongly encoded memories block retrieval of similar but weaker traces, creating the frustrating 'tip-of-the-tongue' experience. In organizations, this explains why legacy mental models dominate: early, deeply-encoded patterns actively suppress newer alternatives, even when outdated.