Bizarreness effect

Bizarreness effect is the tendency of bizarre material to be better remembered than common material.^[1] The scientific evidence for its existence is contested. Some research suggests it does exist, some suggests it doesn't exist and some suggests it leads to worse remembering.^[2]

Causes[edit]

McDaniel and Einstein argues that bizarreness intrinsically does not enhance memory in their paper from 1986. They claim that bizarre information becomes distinctive. It is the distinctiveness that according to them makes encoding easier.^[3] Which makes common sense from an instinctual perspective as the human brain will disregard ingesting information it already is familiar with and will be particularly attuned to taking in new information as an adaptation technique.

References[edit]

^ Bäckman, Lars; Nyberg, Lars (24 August 2009). Memory, Aging and the Brain: A Festschrift in Honour of Lars-G ran Nilsson. Psychology Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-203-86666-5.
^ Schmidt, Stephen R. (4 May 2012). Extraordinary Memories for Exceptional Events. Psychology Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-136-49936-4.
^ Iaccino, J. F.; Sowa, S. J. (February 1989). "Bizarre imagery in paired-associate learning: an effective mnemonic aid with mixed context, delayed testing, and self-paced conditions". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 68 (1): 307–16. doi:10.2466/pms.1989.68.1.307. PMID 2928063. S2CID 19383104.

[1] Bäckman, Lars; Nyberg, Lars (24 August 2009). Memory, Aging and the Brain: A Festschrift in Honour of Lars-G ran Nilsson. Psychology Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-203-86666-5.

[2] Schmidt, Stephen R. (4 May 2012). Extraordinary Memories for Exceptional Events. Psychology Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-136-49936-4.

[3] Iaccino, J. F.; Sowa, S. J. (February 1989). "Bizarre imagery in paired-associate learning: an effective mnemonic aid with mixed context, delayed testing, and self-paced conditions". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 68 (1): 307–16. doi:10.2466/pms.1989.68.1.307. PMID 2928063. S2CID 19383104.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Biases
Cognitive biases	Acquiescence Ambiguity Anchoring Attentional Attribution Actor–observer Correspondence Authority Automation Availability Mean world Belief Blind spot Choice-supportive Commitment Confirmation Compassion fade Congruence Cultural Distinction Dunning–Kruger Egocentric Curse of knowledge Emotional Extrinsic incentives Fading affect Framing Frequency Frog pond effect Halo effect Hindsight Horn effect Hostile attribution Impact Implicit In-group Illusion of transparency Mean world syndrome Mere-exposure effect Negativity Normalcy Omission Optimism Out-group homogeneity Outcome Overton window Precision Present Pro-innovation Response Restraint Self-serving Social comparison Social influence bias Spotlight Status quo Substitution Time-saving Trait ascription Turkey illusion von Restorff effect Zero-risk In animals
Statistical biases	Estimator Forecast Healthy user Information Psychological Lead time Length time Non-response Observer Omitted-variable Participation Recall Sampling Selection Self-selection Social desirability Spectrum Survivorship Systematic error Systemic Verification Wet
Other biases	Academic Basking in reflected glory Funding FUTON Inductive Infrastructure Inherent In education Liking gap Media False balance Vietnam War Norway South Asia Sweden United States Arab–Israeli conflict Ukraine Net Political bias Publication Reporting White hat
Bias reduction	Cognitive bias mitigation Debiasing Heuristics in judgment and decision-making
Lists: General Memory

Causes[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]