3 Things You Didn’t Know About Visual Memory, And How We Recall Information

@spectafy

You will only recall 20% of what

you read on these slides.

Why is that?

Because we only recall 20% of what we read.

And only 10% of what we hear.

But here’s the catch!

We can easily recall 80% of what we see.

Isn’t that insane?

Doesn’t it seem odd?

Think about it.

Without going back, try to remember what

image was on the page 2 slides back.

If you said a question mark,

you’re right.

But do you remember the text?

No?

Doesn’t that seem odd?

That’s because our visual memory is stronger

than our recall of text or full sentences.

Here’s another one for you,

look at these kittens.

Without going back, try to remember

what they looked like.

What did your eyes do as you

tried to recall those kittens?

Did you look up and to the left?

There’s a 90% chance you did.

90% of people look up and to the left when

remembering something they’ve seen.

And inversely look up and to the right when

imagining something, or creating something in

their mind.

Basically, left is for remembering,

right is for creating.

This is why most poker players wear

sunglasses to shield their bluffs.

And it’s a tactic detectives use

to tell if a suspect is lying.

In fact our visual memory is so vivid that

scientists have discovered a way to create a

video from our thoughts.

Scientists at Berkeley can actually show you

a video rendering of your visual memory.

Albeit pixelated, most images are

pretty clear as to what was “seen.”

But how is this possible?

By using “functional Magnetic Resonance

Imaging”, or “fMRI”, measuring blood flow

through the brain’s visual cortex.

The different sections of the brain are split into

volumetric pixels, or “voxels” mapped out in a

computational model.

Mapping brain activity to visual

memory.

Which means in the coming years we

could literally re-live our dreams.

Or re-create a crime scene

from a witnesses memory.

We’ve only touched on the potential of our

visual memory, and tapping into what it could

mean for our future.

But in the meantime, if you’re

left wondering

Why memes are so easy to recall

Or why you can remember any movie word-for-word, but forget what you’ve read when you get to the bottom of the page

It’s because our visual memory is a

powerhouse.

Let’s just leave it at that.

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