Listening - Memory Experiment

We know much more about the memory, than we did 50 years ago. But there are many things we still don\'t know. For example, humans can recognize thousands of photos, but we\'re not perfect at it. For some reason, we keep some photos in our memory, but we forget others, even when we are trying to re...

We know much more about the memory, than we did 50 years ago. But there are many things we still don\'t know. For example, humans can recognize thousands of photos, but we\'re not perfect at it. For some reason, we keep some photos in our memory, but we forget others, even when we are trying to remember them. Let\'s do an experiment. Look at these eight photos. There are four pairs, and each pair is similar in some way. There are two men, two women, two rooms, a dining room and an office, and two beaches. Now, for each pair, which picture do you think is easier to remember? Don\'t try to remember them. But think about which photo your brain is more likely to remember. And think about why. With the two people, maybe you think one person is more friendly looking than the other. With the two rooms, perhaps you like one room more than the other. As for the beaches, the top one is beautiful, but the second one is also very beautiful. You decide. Which photos do you think are more memorable? Which do you think people forget? Okay. Everyone decided? Good. So let\'s talk about each pair of photos. You might think that the photos with bright colors are easier to remember. So maybe the man with dark hair is more memorable than the man with light hair. Or perhaps you think it\'s easier to recall the woman with the very happy smile. What about the photos of the rooms? The room with the tree is interesting and beautiful. The office is normal and a bit boring. As for the beaches, they look the same, maybe the bottom photo has more sunshine. These are all good reasons, but they aren\'t right. Now, let me tell you about this test. When scientists did this test, people often said they thought the photos on the bottom were more memorable. But when they asked people to try to remember the photos, 30% more people remembered the photos on the top row. So why did this happen? Wilma Bainbridge is a neuroscientist and researcher at the University of Chicago, and she created this experiment. From her work, she knows that color and appearance are important for memory. She thinks that we remember about 60% of photos because of the color and appearance. She also discovered that we remember photos, when there are people in them. But what about the other 40% of photos? Why do people remember the top photos and not the bottom ones? Bainbridge and other scientists still do not know the answer. We have a lot to learn about the human memory.