UUCF Summer RE 2011
Brain Glitches
Session 7: Memory and
Attention
Memory
I’m going to read you a list of words.
Remember them, I’m going to come back to this
later.
Awareness Test
How good do you think your brain is at following
what is going on in a complicated
environment?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47LCLoidJh4
Inattentional Blindness
We don’t see what we’re not looking for.
Magicians use this all the time. If they keep
your attention focused elsewhere, you miss
what is happening right in front of you.
This is also a big factor in traffic accidents, and why you
should never drive while talking on a cell phone.
The more your attention is focused on something else,
the less likely you are to notice the other car. Or the
bike. Or the kid running into the street.
Surprisingly, studies show
that a hands-free phone does
not distract you less. It’s the
conversation that’s distracting
you, not the fact that you
are holding a phone.
We’re just limited
There’s only so much that our brain can pay
attention to at once, and we tune out the rest.
Silencing Effect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjMVsTFVX1
0&feature=BFa&list=FLBOn9CwLdKE7WnyQsc
v19bA&lf=BFp
Change blindness
Related to inattentional blindness. Things that
we are supposedly paying attention to can
change, and we don’t notice.
Richard Wiseman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7
EwE&feature=BFp&list=FLBOn9CwLdKE7Wny
Qscv19bA
And more:
Derren Brown:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBPG_OB
gTWg
Murder Mystery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPKN7yXC
NWs&list=FLBOn9CwLdKE7WnyQscv19bA&ind
ex=4
Something is changing between
these two pictures
Most people take a long time to see it. But once
you see it, you can’t go back to “not seeing it”.
What is happening there also goes back to
“pattern recognition” that we talked about
earlier this summer. Once you have seen what
is changing, you can’t “unsee it”. Once we’ve
picked up a pattern, then our brain locks in on
it. You probably can’t “unsee” the
moonwalking bear now either.
Back to Memory
We are going to talk about a couple of kinds of
memory glitches.
Short-term working memory – You can’t hold as
many things in your mind at once as you
probably think you can.
Long-term memory – Your memories of things
that happened in the past are not as accurate
as you think.
Remember that list of words I
asked you to remember?
Now take a blank sheet of paper, and write
down as many of them as you can.
No helping each other, please.
How many did you get?
Was the word “snooze” on the list?
How about “apple”?
Sleep?
House?
Dream?
Here’s the list
Bed, rest, awake, tired, dream, wake, snooze,
(earthquake), blanket, doze, slumber, snore,
nap, peace, yawn, drowsy.
Our RAM is smaller than we think
Our short-term working memory can only hold a
limited number of pieces of information at a
time. Researchers have determined that this
number is about seven, plus or minus two.
Let’s try this out. I’ll read you some random
numbers, and you say them back to me:
3 Digit: 970 184 760 742 137 113 995 376 849 963
938 391 654 070 697
4 digit: 7523 9958 0518 5506 0530 2532 1964 0960 6829
8526 6834 2889 9844 8388 9395
5 digit: 03476 60087 90253 52869 65023 02003 17620 97326
58209 49001 50069 46864 56478 27638 14157 28043
86385 37915 09884 40860
6 digit: 475864 230193 232784 756170 920435 162060
702763 080655 681400 144743 489136 721535 493182
443820 326325 678809 621358 059292 745488 952479
7 Digit: 4286805 9174307 9200218 4434070 6076721
8492976 3900003 7678920 3686376 8319800 1763737
6743511 1804188 3966365 2791419 6316258 3085948
7465294 4327256 6397161
8 digit: 45722656 14342284 35041328 46386276 38909344
61340140 94047752 95924912 37177592 39977480
58135740 03660953 67085320 23696374 53863208
9 digit: 480692512 576824512 288428544 153616368
292473664 875901760 125617504 110891048 420649632
491373824 544780480 384560512 865220416 157661504
014759064
10 digit: 2636035974 8057693653 0753965881 9085389380
2035627429 3276916747 6481394057 7976749196
1435218884 5840413284 2208848791 4212309011
3490683781 8404036378 5280576967
An interesting side effect
A study was done where the subjects were given a
number to remember, then sent down a hall to
another room to complete the study.
Along that hall was a refreshment table offering a
choice of healthy fruit salad or a big slice of
chocolate cake. This table was the real point of the
study.
One group of students was given a two digit
number to remember. The other group was
given a seven digit number.
The students with the seven digit number were
nearly twice as likely to choose cake as those
with only a two digit number.
What’s going on here?
The researchers think that making the choice for
the healthier option required some thought.
And the people trying to remember a seven
digit number? Their brains were already too
busy with remembering the longer number,
and so they just went for want they wanted.
Cake!
Long-Term memory
People like to think of their memory like a video
camera – capturing a true representation of
events and storing them perfectly forever.
NOPE!
Hillary Clinton in 2008
“I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia... we came
in in an evasive maneuver... I remember landing
under sniper fire... there was no greeting ceremony...
we ran with our heads down, we basically were told
to run to our cars... there was supposed to be some
kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, we
basically were told to run to our cars, that is what
happened.”
Here’s the video of that event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piZqaUfNs8g
People forget things that happened.
AND – they insert details that didn’t happen,
and remember events that didn’t happen.
What researchers are finding is that each time
we remember something, our remembering it
becomes a part of that memory. It’s like we
“save over” our old memory file with a new
version each time.
False Memories
Remember that time when you were a kid and
you took that great hot-air balloon ride? No?
Researchers can implant false memories
Wade, Garry, Read and Lindsay (2002) used faked images of a hot air balloon
ride to convince people they had experienced such an event as a child.
Over three interviews they asked people to recall as much detail as
possible about four photographs from their 'childhood' (three real, one
faked) that had been supplied by a family member. When a person failed
to recall any information about an event, typically the balloon ride, the
researchers reassured to participant that it was quite common to have
difficulty remembering things from so long ago but to keep trying. The
experimenters also asked them to visualize the event, such as what the
basket felt like, how the ground looked, etc. By the third interview
approximately 50% of the participants could 'remember' having a hot air
balloon ride as a child, even though none of them had ever had such an
experience.
Other studies
Lost in a shopping mall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8xPfJ8cPhs&feature=player
_embedded#
In a similar study, 25% of people were eventually convinced that
they remembered spilling punch on the parents of a bride at a
wedding as a child.
Another study - fully 30 percent of people shown a fake print ad
of Bugs Bunny in front of Disneyland recalled shaking his hand
when they visited there.
Researchers use misleading images, suggestion
and leading questions to get people to
remember things that didn’t happen.
More people believe the false memories when
they are discussed over several sessions.
People also embellish, add to, and change their
own memories all the time, as in the Hillary
Clinton example we saw.
How much can we rely on
eyewitnesses?
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,
or whatever it is you think you remember?
How about “retrieving repressed
memories”?
It’s been claimed that people can remember
abuse from their childhood under hypnosis.
Family members have gone to prison because
of “memories” retrieved like this.
Understanding what we have just talked about,
should that kind of testimony be enough to
convict someone?
SO…
• We often miss what is right in front of us
• We don’t always notice when things change
• We can’t pay attention to very many things at
a time
• Our long-term memory doesn’t store things
perfectly
• Our memories can be messed with.