← all facts
memory
You remember unusual details better than common ones.
The bizarreness effect suggests that bizarre items are sometimes recalled better than common ones, though researchers argue this is a result of distinctiveness rather than the inherent bizarreness of the material.
McDaniel and Einstein (1986) posit that bizarreness does not inherently improve memory; they argue that bizarre information is encoded more easily because it is more distinctive.
Your memory is built for exceptions, not norms.
Where this comes from
- Study
- McDaniel and Einstein (1986), Memory & Cognition
- What the check found
- The effect is inconsistent across contexts and is often attributed to distinctiveness rather than bizarreness itself by the very authors cited in the claim.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.