Ask the Author: Matthew Welp
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Matthew Welp
This story had a lot of influence on my decision to write "When Was the Last Time?"
There was once a professor who was studying short term memory. One of his students volunteered to be a research subject. Everyday the professor tested how many number digits the student could recall. At first, it would always be around 7 digits, which is average. After months of doing this, however, all of a sudden the student was remembering 15 digits, 20 digits, 30 digits. His recall just exploded. He wasn't ever given any formal training on how to recall numbers. He was merely presented with the challenge over and over again, and his brain figured it out on its own.
I heard this anecdote, and my reaction was to wonder why this couldn't be done with other, more useful things like recalling the details of our lives.
There was once a professor who was studying short term memory. One of his students volunteered to be a research subject. Everyday the professor tested how many number digits the student could recall. At first, it would always be around 7 digits, which is average. After months of doing this, however, all of a sudden the student was remembering 15 digits, 20 digits, 30 digits. His recall just exploded. He wasn't ever given any formal training on how to recall numbers. He was merely presented with the challenge over and over again, and his brain figured it out on its own.
I heard this anecdote, and my reaction was to wonder why this couldn't be done with other, more useful things like recalling the details of our lives.
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