American Amnesia

Our American inability to hold even recent historical facts in our head is fascinating to me, and being an American, I really don't know if citizens of other countries are afflicted with this syndrome or not. It would be nice if I could say that this was a recurrent theme on this blog, but as it is, I kind of forget...

Here's a brief Slate piece on our amnesia about government spending.

ba dum chhh

Bit of a cheat, this one, as I lifted it from some sort of joke-a-day site that my mom subscribes to...Does it help that I'm telling it from memory?

An elderly man, let's call him Dave, runs into a pal of his--uh, Herb.

Herb says, "So I hear you've been going to some sort of memory loss clinic. How's that going?"

Dave says, "Oh, it's fantastic. They've taught me to do active imagery, meditation, all sorts of stuff."

Herb replies, " Sounds great! What's the name of this clinic, anyway?"

Dave falls silent. He looks off into the distance for a moment. "Oh, I know! What's the name of that flowering plant that grows in the garden and is covered with thorns?"

"A rose?" Herb ventures.

"That's it!" Dave says, his face lighting up. He turns to his wife. "Rose, what's the name of that memory loss clinic I've been going to?"

Maybe it Should Be, "Tell, don't show."

I found this link through Very Short List. Usually, this blog is about things that we forget with the passage of time, but today I'm posting about what we forget in a few seconds. The following test was a research experiment to see how well people remembered things visually. Apparently not too well.  The experiment is over, but they've left the game up. I'd say it's fun to play, but actually it's slightly exasperating. I didn't really find it a test of memory so much as reminder of how little I see in the first place.  Anyway, go knock yourself out. (They ask a few questions first, but as it is no longer 'data', I suppose you could lie if it made you feel better.)


Visual Memory Test