Gedaechtnis
17 cards from across every topic, each citing a source. Tap one to open it in the feed.
- A single verb changes what witnesses claim they saw.
Loftus and Palmer showed a crash film in 1974. Asked how fast the cars were going when they "smashed", viewers averaged …
- After a day, most of it is gone, but not all.
In 1885 Ebbinghaus memorised nonsense syllables and tested how much he still knew. After 20 minutes about 40 percent …
- Divers forgot underwater what they had learned on the beach.
In 1975 Godden and Baddeley had divers learn 36 words either on the beach or underwater, then recall them. Recall in …
- Endure pain for longer and still prefer it.
In 1993 Kahneman had participants hold a hand in 14-degree water for 60 seconds. In a second trial: the same 60 seconds …
- How flashcard apps decide when you see a card again.
Every card gets an interval. Answer correctly and it grows, roughly from 1 to 3, 7, 16, 35 days. Fail and it resets to …
- How one student took his digit span from 7 to 80.
Chunking means grouping single items into meaningful units. Working with Anders Ericsson for over two years, the runner …
- How to remember intentions instead of thinking about them.
Remembering to do something later works far better when an external event supplies the trigger than when you have to …
- How to store a list in your flat and find it again.
Pick a route you could walk blindfolded: door, hallway, kitchen, sofa. Turn each list item into an image as absurd as …
- How your brain decides at night what you'll keep.
During deep sleep the hippocampus replays the day's activity patterns at high speed and gradually transfers them to the …
- Same study time, twice the retention.
Spread 60 minutes of studying over several days instead of one evening and you'll remember far more. Hermann Ebbinghaus …
- Testing yourself beats rereading, even though it feels worse.
In 2006 Roediger and Karpicke had students either read a passage four times, or read it once and write it from memory …
- The famous seven items in your head are more like four.
George Miller named the "magical number seven plus or minus two" in 1956 as working memory's capacity. Nelson Cowan …
- Where were you that day? Your answer drifts, your confidence doesn't.
Starting 12 September 2001, Talarico and Rubin repeatedly asked students about their memory of the attacks. Details …
- Why you recall a list's start and end, not its middle.
Learn a list of 15 words and you'll recall the first and last ones best. The first ones you had time to rehearse, so …
- Why your favourite music comes from your youth.
Ask older people for life memories and they cluster strikingly between roughly ages 10 and 30. The same pattern shows …
- You clearly remember a word that was never said.
Hear "bed, rest, awake, tired, dream" and many people also recall "sleep" – which never appeared. Roediger and …
- Your first years were erased, not never recorded.
Most adults date their earliest memory to age three or four; before about 3.5 years almost nothing survives. Back in …