Part-set cuing inhibition

Biological Parallel

When you give a wolf pack partial information about prey location, it can disrupt their systematic search pattern—providing some items from a memory set interferes with retrieving the rest. This is search pattern disruption: memory retrieval follows optimized pathways, and external cues can block the natural search sequence. In meetings, partial lists ('we discussed X, Y, and...') often prevent others from recalling Z because the cue disrupts their retrieval strategy.