Learn to Think in Color

Why do we remember what stands out from its surroundings? How distinctiveness, surprise, and emotion hack your memory Big Picture Framing We remember what stands out from its surroundings because the brain is wired to notice contrast, not sameness. When something breaks the pattern—a bright red folder in a sea of blue, a joke in a serious meeting—it gets tagged as important. That “this is different” signal draws attention, stirs emotion, and strengthens the memory trace. One way psychologists describe this is the “distinctiveness effect”: we remember what’s unusual, isolated, or surprising compared to everything around it. Understanding why we remember what stands out from its surroundings helps you design information, meetings, and even your own habits so they’re far more memorable. The brain loves contrast, not copies Your brain is constantly flooded with sensory input, and it can’t store all of it. So it cheats: it looks for contrast. Most of everyday life is repetitive and predicta...

What Do We Most Remember About Any Given Day? Hint: It’s Not the Whole Day—It’s the Peaks and the End What shapes our memory of a day isn’t the clock—it’s the emotional curve.  Researchers and psychologists alike agree: what we remember most from any given day isn’t a sum of all its parts. Instead, we recall standout moments—the emotional highs or lows—and how the day wrapped up. Understanding this pattern helps us craft more meaningful experiences, both personally and professionally. If you’re trying to make an impression, end strong and aim for moments that stir emotion or reflection. The main keyword here is  what we remember about a day , and it plays a central role in both our personal fulfillment and professional impact. The Peak-End Rule: Your Brain’s Shortcut to Memory The “Peak-End Rule,” coined by psychologist Daniel Kahneman, explains how our memories of experiences are shaped less by duration and more by two key moments: The peak  (the most intense emotional m...