h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My elderly mother phoned me up and asked me to pick up 11 items from the supermarket for her. I jotted them down without thinking, and later that day, departed for the shops. After about a mile, I realised I'd forgotten to take the list, and turned around, thinking there was no way I'd recall the items; but within 100 yards I'd recalled every one. Now I'm left wondering, if my ability to recall can be that good when I put my mind to it, how did I forget to take the stupid list in the first place? What does this say about memory?

memory is a strange thing,
I'm sure everyone has experianced the ordeal of walking into a room and forgetting why...

Writing things down when you hear them puts them in your memory more than once, since you processed the list audibly and physically (and I'd assume visually, as well, unless you write stuff without looking--my handwriting only looks like I do)So quite a bit more backup than just knowing there's a list that you should grab on your way out the door.

...90% of the reason I'm a compulsive note-taker, though I sometimes do refer back to them...

This doesn't illustrate much about short-term memory.

Short-term literally operates over a matter of seconds. Read someone out a 6-digit phone number and they'll be quite able to repeat it back to you. Ask them again 20 seconds later and the odds are they won't have a clue. This is the timespan of short-term memory.

What's also going on here is contextual memory. You didn't really remember an 11-item shopping list. If the shopping list consisted of: radish, cowbell, armature, ribbon, fork, potassium, coyote, envelope, ganglion, tyke, quasar...then you'd have forgotten most of them by later that day (plus you'd probably want to check on Mum's medication).

However, what ACTUALLY happened is you thought: "Well, Mum always needs bread. And milk. And she was running short of cucumber last time I was there. And she likes a nice bit of cheese..." That sort of memory is MUCH easier for you to deal with because you're not dealing with random unconnecteds.

B

The store I shop at is always out of coyote and quasar. Is it any wonder I couldn't remember to look for them?

Quasars are all very well, but they do tend to stretch the carrier bag on the walk home from the shop.

That, plus they require a special fabric that can resist melting under the intense heat and gravity.

Sigh! Another interesting conversation derailed.

>> how did I forget to take the stupid list in the first place? What does this say about memory? <<

Memory is secondary to action.

"Sigh! Another interesting conversation derailed." [Still Incognitas]

Sorry! I'm a serial conversation-derailer.....

I don't really go with the 'derailed conversation' argument. It seems to me that any off-topic chat actually helps the original post stay in the Hootooers consciousness, because it bumps the topic back up. And there's nothing stopping anyone simply answering the OP at any point.

>>That sort of memory is MUCH easier for you to deal with because you're not dealing with random unconnecteds.

You're right, they weren't entirely unconnected; the context must have been what helped. It would be interesting to repeat the 'experiment' with far less connected items, and see how the 'subject' copes.

The other reason is that when she asked you to get those things, you consciously thought about getting milk, eggs, etc - it stuck in your head, because you thought of it as a Task To Be Done - "Must get Mum's Shopping Later On".

The thought "Must Put That Bit Of Paper In Pocket" is unlikely to register in the same way. It's a little thing that can be overlooked due to five seconds' distraction as you're going out the door.

Educators know that memory can be enhanced by the simple acts of seeing and doing.It is far more effective to hear then write down a list to aid memory than it is to try and remember a list.

So a good teacher will offer as many methods as possible.Hearing,writing,viewing are the most effective.Another is to set a list to a familiar tune.My mother used to commit a shopping list to memory by using Pop goes the Weasel as the tune.It was very effective but a little embarrassing to my younger self when following my mother around the shops..She of course was oblivious the looks she received from other customers as she worked her way through the sung list.

Didn't your family get fed up eating nothing but rice & treacle?

Actually, remembering to a tune makes sense. I always swear that my appalling memory is caused by the fact my head is stuffed full of song lyrics. I bought an album recently I hadn't heard for at least 15 years and I must have remembered at least 75% of the lyrics of every song.

What I find is that if I forget my shopping list and ad-lib it, I remember that one thing I mustn't forget as I pull onto my drive at the end of the shopping trip. It happens a lot, the act of arriving home seems to cause my memory to spit it out.

Deb

I take great care to write down everything I need to buy, but when I get to the supermarket I get nervous. I try to fill my shopping cart as fast as possible from memory. Then when I get home, I find that I have forgotten at least one important item.

Ditto on shopping.

Even worse, though is leaving the house to undertake the 20 mile drive to the nearest supermarket or points beyond.

If don't remember things I've forgotten before I reach the 3 mile mark, unless I have to them to complete the errand, I don't turn back.