unit 3: how people remember

CHAPTER SYNOPSIS
Chapter 3 goes in depth with how people tend to remember. It discusses the pros and cons of memory as well as the human reaction to memory. It is important to understand how the memory works when designing to help those viewing your design.

As you may have experienced in life, short-term memory can be unreliable. Working memory is memory that you need for less than a minute. For example, when you are at a web page and you fill out a form, the next page might have a captcha (the box that asks you to retype the letters/digits you see). You use working memory when you read the word and then look away from it to type it. In order for working memory to be successful, the user must have their attention focused. In design it is important to not ask people to remember information (such as numbers or letters) from one page to another.

As we understand, memory can be created from repetition. There are a few ways that this chapter suggests that we help create memory. People can handle 4-item chunks of information (think of phone number clusters 3-3-4 instead of 10 individual numbers). Memories are patterns of connections between neurons, so repetition can help the user create a memory. Recognition is easier than recalling something. Typically a user will be more successful in recognition because it will utilize context whereas recollection can lead to false information. People tend to remember the most recent information that they have been given, so it's important to focus the most impertinent information toward the end of whatever you are showing the person.

This chapter also discusses that memories can change. When we dream our mind is recalling events from the day and making them into memories and associations. Memories can change each time they are recalled. Flashbulb memories are usually relating to traumatic or dramatic events that become vivid memories to the storyteller, yet usually full of errors. The book uses an excellent example of a flashbulb memory when they discuss how you might remember the attacks on September 11th, 2001. The event was very traumatic, thus revving up the emotional amygdala that happens to be near the long-term memory coding part of the brain, the hippocampus. Emotions get tied up in the memory, causing information to change.

While discussing the importance of giving your viewer what they need to remember it is important to understand that it is okay for the user to forget. It's not a conscious effort to forget something (usually) and it is usually more helpful than detrimental. If you have important information that the viewer needs to remember its best to provide it in the design, or make it easy to find that information.

CHAPTER ANALYSIS
This chapter has been my favorite thus far. There was a lot of really great information to use as a designer and just for life in general While I feel like I have a good grasp of the lacking ability of short-term or working memory, I was surprised by the information that I read about memories and the fact that they are no concrete.

In my experience with online classes I have found it incredibly hard to read e-books. One of my biggest arguments is that the way the pages get broken up. For example, one page will have text that relates to an image that is on the next page. Typically in hard-printed books these pieces of information would be together. Online, I am forced to go back and forth multiple times to remember what the information about the picture is and to see the picture. This can be seen as an issue with working memory.

The fact that memories can change is also an interesting one. I have heard my mom on more than one account retell a story but not exactly how it happened. Maybe feelings were misplaced from the beginning of the story and it has changed the whole feel of the story. I used to find it really annoying because it felt like she preferred exaggeration (the jury is still out on that) but now I know it might just be a serious of connections and patterns that are trying to be created and turned into memory (even if it is wrong memory).