Meryl Horne

Okay, so what's your guess for how to say that?

Okay, so the answer is, and I need to check this because it's just Google.

Do you want me to call my mom?

Sure, yeah, yeah.

Let's get the real answer.

I don't know your mom spoke Spanish.

Yeah, she's Peruvian.

And you still don't.

Esto es muy chistoso.

Okay, so what we just did will make for a stronger memory than if I had just told you, oh, esto es muy chistoso, like without making you guess first.

So remember, you tried to guess.

That was wrong.

Right.

But it doesn't really matter that it was wrong.

It's like just the fact that you made a guess at all before finding out the right answer really helps make a better memory for it.

Why is that?

Well, one scientist I talked to said that he thinks it's like upping the stakes emotionally, right?

Because, like, if I had just told you, here's the answer, you'd be like, oh, okay.

But if I ask you first and then you kind of struggle with it and then I'm like, you're wrong, it's this instead, then you, like, give more of a crap about what the real answer is.

So your brain is more likely to, like, log that memory as importance because, you know, generally we're more likely to remember stuff that's happened if it's made, like, an emotional impact on us.