Select the most appropriate option that can substitute the underlined words in…

Many English words describing ways of "looking" or "observing" are built from the Latin root spectare/specere ("to look"). Attaching a different prefix to this root changes the direction or mode of the looking: retro- means backward, intro- means inward, extro- means outward, and circum- means around.

The underlined phrase describes the grandfather spending evenings reviewing and reliving events that already happened — recalling his childhood and the memories it holds. This is a backward-directed act of recollection, which is precisely the sense carried by the prefix retro- joined to -spection: the noun that names the act of looking back over past events.

• Introspection combines intro- (inward) with -spection, naming the examination of one's own present thoughts and feelings — a look inward, not a review of bygone events.

• Extrospection combines extro- (outward) with -spection, naming attention directed at things and people outside oneself, not at what has already occurred.

• Circumspection combines circum- (around) with -spection, naming careful, wary consideration of present circumstances before acting — not a survey of the past.

Only the backward-directed prefix retro- matches the description of dwelling on past events, so Retrospection is the word that correctly substitutes the underlined phrase.