Taking a picture so you remember this moment forever? Well that picture may be the reason you don’t remember it at all. A study published by The Journal of Applied Research In Memory and Cognition asked students to take in a series of paintings, one by just looking at it, one by taking a picture of it, and one with a picture on Snap-Chat where the picture disappears after a bit. It found that whether it was the picture that disappeared or the one that didn’t disappear the people in the study still had trouble remembering the painting properly while those who just looked at were able to. They believe the reason behind it is that when you’re just looking at it you actively try to retain the memory. When you take the picture your brain “off-loads” it and expects the camera’s memory to do that job for you. In the end you forget more about the moment than if you had just stopped and taken it all in.
So I guess those 400 videos you took at the Dave Matthew’s Band Concert of each of your favorite songs may not be as valuable as you thought they would be 6 beers deep.
