Better Memories Make People Tire of Experiences Quickly, Study Shows

Having better memory apparently, has advantages and disadvantages. A study conducted by researchers of marketing and consumer behavior from the University of Kansas leads to the conclusion that people with better memories tire of experiences quickly.

The study was conducted in order to help marketers keep the attention and interest of their audience. Both the brands and the consumers are likely to benefit from the study since it describes how better memories affect one's capacity to feel satiated, which applies to products and even eating habits.

"People with larger working memory capacities actually encode information more deeply," Noelle Nelson, lead author of the study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, said in a press release. "They remember more details about the things they've experienced and that leads them to feel like they've had it more. That feeling then leads to the 'Large-capacity' people getting tired of experiences faster."

In order to prevent people with better memory from tiring of experiences quickly, their memory must be enhanced to remember the time they feel satiated. For example, if they've eaten a specific unhealthy food, they can convince their brain to feel more satisfied; thus, eliminating the need to eat the same unhealthy food.

To arrive at the findings, Nelson with the help of co-author Joseph Redden, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota, conducted four separate experiments. The experiments involve measuring the memory capacity of participants in different ways. Those with better memories eventually tire of experiences like viewing paintings or listening to music.

"We found that their capacity predicted how fast they got tired of the art of music," Nelson added. "People with larger memory capacities satiated on these things more quickly than people with smaller capacities. Essentially, large capacity people perceive that they've experienced things more times because they remember those experiences better."

The results are expected to help marketing craft their strategies to keep people with better memory capacities to remain interested in products and brands. The idea is to keep their attention longer. A report says that the study may also help the psychological origin of obesity or overeating.