Our memories enable us to store information from different sources, retain it, and use it when needed. But some things are harder to remember than others. A Swedish study suggests that this phenomenon could be attributed to the feelings inspired by the person teaching us.
Inês Bramão, associate professor of psychology at Lund University, and her colleagues claim that humans retain information more easily when it is transmitted by someone they like or admire. They reached this conclusion after conducting three experiments involving 189 volunteers, who were asked to remember and associate different everyday objects.
They were also asked to define their likes and dislikes in terms of political opinions, eating habits, hobbies, favourite sports, and other areas of interest. The researchers then discovered that participants had an easier time remembering the objects and linking them when they were presented by someone they knew.
Furthermore, the participants’ feelings towards this person had a direct influence on their ability to memorise. In other words, the participants’ brains seemed to process new information more easily when it came from someone towards whom they had positive feelings.
“Particularly striking is that we integrate information differently depending on who is saying something, even when the information is completely neutral. In real life, where information often triggers stronger reactions, these effects could be even more prominent,” study co-author Mikael Johansson noted.
To illustrate this phenomenon, Bramão uses the example of an individual who visits a healthcare centre and notices that improvements have been made. They may link these improvements to current events – for example, if a political party is campaigning for a tax increase to finance healthcare spending.
“If you sympathise with this political party, you’re likely to attribute the improvements to the tax increase, even though these changes might have had a completely different cause,” she pointed out.
If this study is anything to go by, people are far more selective than they think when it comes to memorising new information. Our brains tend to make connections between different events to reinforce our belief systems, which explains why polarised viewpoints get reinforced and entrenched.
The authors warn that the conclusions of their study, published in the journal Communications Psychology, should be considered with caution due to the limited number of participants and the fact that they were all American. Nevertheless, the findings could help us better understand how the polarisation of ideas occurs.