Although maria can encode and consciously recall new information, she is unable to consciously recall events that happened prior to the brain damage that she suffered as an adolescent. maria's memory difficulty most clearly illustrates

The correct answer is - retrograde amnesia.

Explanation:

Amnesia is a medical condition in which an individual loses the memory of a period of time that can be affected by the different causes. Amnesia can be of four types Retrograde amnesia, Anterograde amnesia, Transient global amnesia, and Infantile amnesia.

Retrograde amnesia is memoryless to the events or the knowledge or information that was learned that occurred before the injury or the due to some onset of disease. Maria is experiencing retrograde amnesia as she is not able to remember events before adolescents before the injury or damage.

Thus, the correct answer is - retrograde amnesia.