Reconstructive memory for everyday objects

Can you draw an Apple logo from memory that seems to be ubiquitous? As it turns out, hardly. Psychologists from the University of California at Los Angeles conducted a study that demonstrates the characteristics of the human memory. The work “Daily Attention, Meta-Memory and Reconstructive Memory for the Apple Logo” was published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology .

Reconstructive memory is the process by which the memory of an event is distorted by information that comes into view after the event has occurred.

The experiment involved 85 students at the University of California at Los Angeles. Everyone had to draw a logo on a blank sheet of paper, indicate the degree of confidence in his answer. As a result, only one student managed to correctly depict this figure.
')
Here are samples of what came out of the subjects. The drawing in the center is the only one that is recognized as correct.



Less than half of the students recognized the correct logo when they were offered a choice of several similar figures. By the way, this test can pass each.

Apple Logo Recognition Online Test

Among the participants there were 52 users of Apple products, 10 users of other equipment and 23 students who use both Apple equipment and others.

How can it be that such a simple, recognizable and memorable logo is distorted in the memory of users? “People have difficulty choosing the right logo even if it’s right in front of them,” says UCLA senior lecturer Alan Castel, who in 2012 showed that most office workers cannot pinpoint the location of the bright red fire extinguisher near the office. , although they passed it hundreds or thousands of times.

Scientists still find it difficult to name the reasons for the manifestation of reconstructive memory in such cases. According to one version, the brain does not specifically remember the specific small details. In order to be effective, he does not need to keep in memory a detailed image of a corporate logo.

Studies show that people are practically unable to accurately memorize other everyday objects. For example, even experienced users can hardly name the location of all the keys on the keyboard, although they spent many years with it.