Humans Have Astonishing Memories, Study Finds
By Clara Moskowitz
<http://www.livescience.com/php/contactus/author.php?r=cm> , LiveScience
Staff Writer

posted: 08 September 2008 05:01 pm ET

<http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?\
s=health&c=news&l=on&pic=080908-memory-02.jpg&cap=Example+test+pairs+pre\
sented+during+the+memory+study+for+all+three+conditions.+The+number+of+o\
bservers%0D+reporting+the+correct+item+is+shown+for+each+of+the+depicted\
+pairs.+Credit%3A+Brady+et+al.%2C+PNAS&title=> Example test pairs
presented during the memory study for all three conditions. The number
of observers reporting the correct item is shown for each of the
depicted pairs. Credit: Brady et al., PNAS Full Size
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<http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?\
s=health&c=news&l=on&pic=080908-memory-02.jpg&cap=Example+test+pairs+pre\
sented+during+the+memory+study+for+all+three+conditions.+The+number+of+o\
bservers%0D+reporting+the+correct+item+is+shown+for+each+of+the+depicted\
+pairs.+Credit%3A+Brady+et+al.%2C+PNAS&title=> Example test pairs
presented during the memory study for all three conditions. The number
of observers reporting the correct item is shown for each of the
depicted pairs. Credit: Brady et al., PNAS
If human memory were truly digital, it would have just received an
upgrade from something like the capacity of a floppy disk to that of a
flash drive. A new study found the brain can remember a lot more than
previously believed.

In a recent experiment, people who viewed pictures
<http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?\
s=health&c=news&l=on&pic=080908-memory-02.jpg&cap=Example+test+pairs+pre\
sented+during+the+memory+study+for+all+three+conditions.+The+number+of+o\
bservers%0D+reporting+the+correct+item+is+shown+for+each+of+the+depicted\
+pairs.+Credit%3A+Brady+et+al.%2C+PNAS&title=> of thousands of objects
over five hours were able to remember astonishing details afterward
about most of the objects.

Though previous studies have never measured such astounding feats of
memory, it may be simply because no one really tried.

"People had never tested whether people could remember this much detail
about this many objects," said researcher Timothy Brady, a cognitive
neuroscientist at MIT. "Nobody actually pushed it this far."

When they did push the human brain to its limits
<http://www.livescience.com/health/080428-working-memory.html> , the
scientists found that under the right circumstances, it can store minute
visual details far beyond what had been imagined.

Those circumstances include looking at images of objects that are
familiar, such as remote controls, dollar bills and loaves of bread, as
opposed to abstract artworks.

Another factor that seemed to help was motivation to do well: The
participant who scored highest won a small prize of money (the
researchers refused to say exactly how much).

"You have to try," said MIT co-author Talia Konkle. "You have to want to
do it."

The study, funded by the National Science Foundation, National
Institutes of Health, a National Defense Science and Engineering
Graduate Fellowship, and a National Research Service Award, was detailed
in the Sept. 8 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences.

In the experiment, 14 people ranging from age 18 to 40 viewed nearly
3,000 images, one at a time, for three seconds each. Afterwards, they
were shown pairs of images and asked to select the exact image they had
seen earlier.

The test pairs fell into three categories: two completely different
objects, an object and a different example of the same type of object
(such as two different remote controls), and an object along with a
slightly altered version of the same object (such as a cup full and
another cup half-full).

Stunningly, participants on average chose the correct image 92 percent,
88 percent and 87 percent of the time, in each of the three pairing
categories respectively. Though 14 subjects may not sound like a huge
sample, the fact that they each recalled the objects with very similar
rates of success suggests the results are not a fluke.

"To give just one example, this means that after having seen thousands
of objects, subjects didn't just remember which cabinet they had
seen, but also that the cabinet door was slightly open," Brady said.

Even the researchers didn't expect quite such high recall rates
<http://www.livescience.com/health/070409_memory_overload.html> .

"We had the intuition that it might be possible, but we were surprised
by the magnitude of the effect," said study leader Aude Oliva, also of
MIT. "These numbers, higher than 85 and 90 percent, impressed us and
also impressed a lot of people who heard about the work."

So now that we know the brain's memory is so fantastic, are we all out
of excuses for forgetting friends' birthdays?

Luckily not, Brady said.

"To some extent it's about attention, actively encoding specific details
into memory," he told LiveScience. "If we tried really hard we actually
could remember when someone's birthday was: if you say to yourself, 'The
birthday is on this day and that relates to these other things that I
remember.'"

Basically, he said, we can remember most things we put our minds to, if
we invest enough attention
<http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=attentiontrain\
ing&plugin=f> and effort into trying to store them in the first place.

* Video: Attention Training
<http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=attentiontrain\
ing&plugin=f> * Video: A Turn-off Switch for Alzheimer's
<http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=alzheimersswit\
ch> * Top 10 Mysteries of the Mind
<http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/top10_mysteriesofthemind.html>



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