People are more likely to remember surprising or unusual experiences, study says
BOSTON - Our brains are constantly bombarded with information and experiences, but why do we store some of these memories but discard most?
Researchers at Yale University developed a computational model and a series of experiments in which people were asked if they remembered specific images shown in rapid succession.
They found that people tend to remember things that are not easy to explain. That is, if an experience is predictable and not surprising, it might quickly be ignored.
They gave an example of seeing a fire hydrant in a remote, natural environment. You wouldn't expect to see that. It wouldn't immediately make sense to you, and therefore, that experience may be more memorable than seeing a tree or a rock out in nature.
