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00:00:06 |
Although we see pound coins every day.
For most of us it is not important the |
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00:00:10 |
way the queens head is facing. You know
something staring you in the face for |
| 00:00:10 |
00:00:15 |
ages. But if you are not concentrating on
it will not go in. To prove the point we |
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00:00:19 |
have been conducting a secret test on our
volunteers as they arrived this morning. |
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00:00:26 |
The person giving out the badges is going
to change. Right in front of our |
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00:00:32 |
volunteers. Will they notice. Thank you
very much. |
| 00:00:34 |
00:00:38 |
Hello, good morning! Welcome to Memory
Manor. Can I just ask you to sign your |
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00:00:41 |
name there. |
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00:00:49 |
From behind the counter it is obvious
what is going on. |
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00:01:06 |
I just saw the one person. I saw one man
behind the counter. There was one I |
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00:01:11 |
think. There were two people that served
me. Ha, ha you got me now. |
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00:01:15 |
We use our memories really quite
efficiently. In the sense that we take in |
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00:01:18 |
the information that we need in order to
interpret the scene that we are looking |
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00:01:21 |
at. So in the case of the security guards
giving out the badge today. People |
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00:01:24 |
noticed that they were security guards
because people could recognize the |
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00:01:27 |
uniform. And they are focusing on the
badges that they had to fill in. And pick |
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00:01:30 |
up and so on. |
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00:01:35 |
So it is highly unlikely to notice the
character or the identity of the person |
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00:01:39 |
who is giving it to them. We tend to
ignore information that is not needed. |
| 00:01:39 |
00:01:42 |
And because we ignore it we are unlikely
to notice changes. This phenomenon of |
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00:01:46 |
failing to notice this kind of changes,
is known as change blindness. |
| 00:01:48 |
00:01:53 |
How many people served you? Two. Three.
Two.So if it is change blindness, |
| 00:01:53 |
00:01:57 |
attention span or absent mindedness. You
can not expect to remember something if |
| 00:01:57 |
00:02:02 |
you did not spot it in the first place.
Acquisition requires you to be |
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00:02:06 |
attentive. |
| 00:02:07 |
00:02:11 |
Well if you think our audience here are a
bit slow off the mark. Did you know the |
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00:02:14 |
painting behind Robert disappear? Have
another look. |
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00:02:21 |
Ignore Robert for a moment. Keep your
eyes on the painting. You can not expect |
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00:02:25 |
to remember something if you did not spot
it in the first place. Acquisition |
| 00:02:25 |
00:02:30 |
requires you to be attentive. |
| 00:02:31 |
00:02:35 |
Easy to miss is it not? Well, 11 years
ago that painting really was stolen from |
| 00:02:35 |
00:02:40 |
here. In a good old fashioned heist. It
is called rest on the flight into Egypt. |
| 00:02:40 |
00:02:44 |
And was painted by Tisham. At the time it
was valued at a whopping 5 million |
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00:02:48 |
pounds. Throughout the program we will be
asking you a series of questions about |
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00:02:53 |
that robbery, to test different elements
of your memory. And if you are paying |
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00:02:57 |
attention. You should be able to solve
our puzzle at the end of our program. |
| 00:02:58 |
00:03:03 |
To discover how the painting was
retrieved. At the same time your answers |
| 00:03:03 |
00:03:08 |
will help us identify your own memory
strengths and weaknesses. |
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00:03:14 |
So are you ready for the first instalment
of the memory manor mystery? Here are 6 |
| 00:03:14 |
00:03:20 |
paintings. One of them is the stone and
master piece you just saw disappear. But |
| 00:03:20 |
00:03:25 |
which was it? |
| 00:03:33 |
00:03:37 |
Well. That us have a look at see what the
correct answer was. It was painting |
| 00:03:37 |
00:03:41 |
number 6. But we picked very similar
images including one that you have seen |
| 00:03:41 |
00:03:46 |
before. So if you struggled it probably
means you need to concentrate on the |
| 00:03:46 |
00:03:50 |
detail of what you are looking at. If you
got this right, give yourself a tick |
| 00:03:50 |
00:03:54 |
against question two for visual
recognition. |
| 00:03:57 |
00:04:01 |
My memory used to be fantastic. It is now
awful. I like to think I have got a good |
| 00:04:01 |
00:04:04 |
memory. But it is not as good as it used
to be. I do not know if it is an age |
| 00:04:04 |
00:04:08 |
thing or it is because I have come out of
education. But it is definitely getting |
| 00:04:08 |
00:04:11 |
rusty around the edges. |
| 00:04:12 |
00:04:15 |
I feel a bit like what Mark Twain said. I
have reached that stage in life where a |
| 00:04:15 |
00:04:19 |
man has learned everything he needs to
know. The only problem is I can not |
| 00:04:19 |
00:04:22 |
remember any of it. |
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00:04:27 |
What we have just been examining is two
expects of short term memory. How well |
| 00:04:27 |
00:04:31 |
you acquire. And then instantly recognize
or recall images and words, before you |
| 00:04:31 |
00:04:35 |
have a chance to forget them. But our
memory relies on two systems. As well as |
| 00:04:35 |
00:04:38 |
being able to manipulate information in
the short term. You need to be able to |
| 00:04:38 |
00:04:42 |
retain it. In your long term memory. That
is where the storage and retrieval comes |
| 00:04:42 |
00:04:46 |
in. |
| 00:04:47 |
00:04:51 |
So how do these processes translate into
people's everyday life? For Dave Frost |
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00:04:54 |
the answer is not very well at all. |
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00:05:02 |
Hi! I am Dave. I am Alice. I am Ann. Hi!
I am Lacy. |
| 00:05:03 |
00:05:07 |
Dave and his family live on the North
East Coast. He is a loving husband and |
| 00:05:07 |
00:05:11 |
father. But relationships are rather call
in the Frost household. My Dad's memory |
| 00:05:11 |
00:05:16 |
is really bad. It has a great impact on
my home life. He does not know where to |
| 00:05:16 |
00:05:20 |
lock up on the night. He might forget to
pick you up. And we might go for a coffee |
| 00:05:20 |
00:05:24 |
and he will go: I forgot my wallet. He
will not remember anything if my mom will |
| 00:05:24 |
00:05:28 |
not remind him. He is letting us down
really. |
| 00:05:29 |
00:05:34 |
So why is his memory so bad? I would say
a lot of it is a man thing. And he can |
| 00:05:34 |
00:05:38 |
only do one job at a time. Get one thing
into my head. Get distracted by something |
| 00:05:38 |
00:05:43 |
else. And the first thing I was doing
just disappears. And that happens so many |
| 00:05:43 |
00:05:47 |
times. |
| 00:05:48 |
00:05:52 |
To try to bring some harmony to the
Frost's home. We sent along Memory Master |
| 00:05:52 |
00:05:57 |
Tony Buzan. Tony believes that anyone
could improve their memory. But first he |
| 00:05:57 |
00:06:01 |
finds out how Dave remembers things. If I
say to you apple. What happens in your |
| 00:06:01 |
00:06:05 |
head? |
| 00:06:06 |
00:06:11 |
I think of tree. Now did you get a
statement or a picture of a tree? |
| 00:06:11 |
00:06:15 |
Picture. Picture of a tree. Your brain is
working perfectly. I think my wife would |
| 00:06:15 |
00:06:20 |
tend to argue with you on that. |
| 00:06:21 |
00:06:26 |
This quick test shows how most people’s
mind works. Objects and items are usually |
| 00:06:26 |
00:06:30 |
best remembered with visual images. Tony
is going to use this fact to teach Dave a |
| 00:06:30 |
00:06:35 |
basic memory technique. And for that they
need to take a walk. |
| 00:06:36 |
00:06:40 |
Dave's Problem is not his memory. His
problem is that he has not been using it. |
| 00:06:40 |
00:06:43 |
When he is suppose to be memorizing
something he is having a day dream, he is |
| 00:06:43 |
00:06:47 |
thinking about something else. And he
knows that he is not going to remember it |
| 00:06:47 |
00:06:50 |
anyway. So why bother. So he has actually
trained himself to forget. |
| 00:06:51 |
00:06:56 |
But it is not all bad news. Dave's good
visual memory. Allows Tony to teach him a |
| 00:06:56 |
00:07:01 |
new way of remembering. It is called the
roman room method. The roman room method |
| 00:07:01 |
00:07:05 |
is where you imagine a roman room. And
you have specific things in it. A Vase, a |
| 00:07:05 |
00:07:10 |
sofa, a lamp. And to those items in your
room you connect the things you want to |
| 00:07:10 |
00:07:15 |
remember. |
| 00:07:16 |
00:07:20 |
But the roman room method works best,
when you use a familiar environment. |
| 00:07:20 |
00:07:24 |
Either the house where you live or a
landscape that you know well. So he now |
| 00:07:24 |
00:07:27 |
has locations and images. Throughout this
glorious landscape. And he can just place |
| 00:07:27 |
00:07:31 |
in his imagination. |