A recent study by scientists from the Dutch University of Amsterdam found that human memory could fade even seconds after certain events.
According to the first author of the research from the University of Amsterdam Dr. Marte Otten, even at the shortest term, our memory might not be fully reliable, even after one and a half seconds, two seconds, three seconds then we start filling in based on our expectations.
Otten and colleagues mention that previous research has shown that when people are presented with a rotated or mirror-image letter, they more so report seeing the letter in its correct position, which is a remark that was neglected by participants who mistook the presentation, while Otten recalls that it is likely to be because of memory.
For further verification, the researchers conducted four experiments, initially examining participants to ensure that they were able to complete basic visual memory tasks before displaying them with a six or eight-letter circuit, one or two of which were mirrored image forms. For seconds, participants were presented with a second circle of letters that they were asked to ignore as a form of distraction, then asked to identify a particular form among a series of options that existed in the first circuit, and researchers assessed the participants' confidence in their answers to the choice. The results of 23 participants who reported high confidence in their answers revealed that the most common error was to choose the inverse form of the target form.
The research group explained this phenomenon that the errors were driven by participants' knowledge of the alphabetical and hence their expectations, and that the high confidence in which participants reported their answers also excluded the possibility that the results might be a mere speculation for participants.
