Von Restorff effect: what it is and how it helps us remember

Let's do a mental exercise. Let's imagine that someone leaves the following shopping list written: potatoes, tuna, lettuce, tomatoes, ROB A BANK, chicken breasts, crackers and salt. We let half an hour pass. What is most likely to be remembered?

The most likely thing is to "rob a bank" since it is not an object, it is highlighted in capital letters and in bold and it stands out for being very different from what a normal shopping list would have.

The von Restorff effect It is a phenomenon that happens when a certain element or data stands out compared to those around it, receiving greater prominence and, in turn, being easier to remember later. Let's take a closer look at what it consists of.

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The von Restorff effect: what is it?

The von Restorff effect, also called the isolation effect, is basically the phenomenon that occurs when there is a greater chance of remembering one or more elements that stand out compared to others with which it is grouped.

This effect was first described by the German psychiatrist and pediatrician Hedwig von Restorff (1906–1962), who in 1933 She determined that it was more likely to remember elements that stand out for characteristics such as color, shape, standing out from the group semantic...

Until then, it was thought that remembering something that simply stood out was due to how human attention works. It was maintained that what attracted attention simply required greater prominence. However, based on what von Restorff saw in the 1930s, this greater role also has to see how human memory works when encoding information that is different from that of its around.

Actually, this conclusion was not explained by Hedwig von Restorff at the time, although she laid the foundations for it. so that, in 1995, researchers Emanuel Donchin and Monica Fabiani reached the conclusion that that memory encodes information of different types in a consequently diverse way.

Returning to the case of the list mentioned at the beginning. When we are given a list of this type, what we expect is to find shopping products normal and ordinary, which could be found under the semantic label 'list of the buys'. If an element that falls outside the semantic label is introduced into that list, it is more likely that we will Let us realize the existence of this element, in addition to making it more easily remembered in the long run. term.

Explanations to this phenomenon

There are different hypotheses that have tried to explain why we remember better isolated or different elements from the rest of the group with which they are presented. One of the explanations behind it is that working memory stores those different elements for longer, in case they are of interest later given their peculiarity.

Another approach maintains that one of the reasons why isolated elements are better remembered is that, by coming from another group or label, they are already whether semantic, morphological or any other type, they are remembered as a separate group, smaller than the group of elements with which they have been presented, being easier to remember later.

Currently it is maintained that since these elements are verbal, visual or of any type, an inconsistency with respect to the rest of the elements with which they are presented, they are given different attention and, in turn, are remembered differently.

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Applications in daily life

Leaving aside the theoretical explanations behind the von Restorff effect, let's see some uses that this phenomenon has on a daily basis, which can be a great advantage especially in areas such as study, work or marketing.

1. Study

Although many students probably do not know this effect or do not know how to call it by name, the truth is that it is something in which they live immersed, especially during exam periods.

When you are reading a study book It is very common for the most important information to be explained differently from the rest of the page., such as, for example, in the form of a colored box, underlined or bold.

In this way, special attention is focused on those elements, in addition to making them easier to remember.

But it is not only books and those who make them who make use of the von Restorff effect on their own. The students, By underlining the information or preparing it in the form of separate diagrams, they make sure to make it stand out..

Thus, when information is transformed from written form to visual form, it is better remembered, since it acquires greater prominence when compared to the hundreds of lines of text from which it has been extracted.

2. Labor sphere

Although this is also related to the previous point, this effect can be a great ally in the workplace, especially when it comes to work presentations.

When creating presentation slides, You can incorporate elements that attract the attention of the audience. Some of these may be titles of different colors, striking images, sounds, video fragments...

Everything that is out of the ordinary allows the audience to receive a greater impression of what they are seeing, remembering it later.

This can also make the presentation more enjoyable, preventing the presenter from feeling that the audience is bored and more nervous than they are.

3. Marketing

Finally, we will see the benefits and uses of the von Restorff effect in marketing, which are used constantly and they are not very difficult to understand.

When, for example, we go to a store, all the signs that say 'SALES', almost always in bright colors and in capital letters, are making clear use of this very useful effect.

Also, in television advertisements, when the ad uses bright colors, letters that change size and color, noises, and loud music, among others, is a way to attract the consumer's attention and make them remember the product when they go to the supermarket.

But sometimes these strategies are not as useful as you think, especially if everyone uses the same thing to attract the consumer's attention. Since everything is the same, the consumer does not remember a specific brand.

This is why, from time to time, some brands change their strategy and, taking advantage of what others do not do in their advertisements and commercial claims, they attract the attention of the consumer.

A few years ago, a car brand made an advertisement that was practically silent. Since at that time most advertisements, especially car ones, incorporated action music, the brand that did not use this strategy was more remembered.

Bibliographic references:

• Kelley, M. R. & Nairme, J. S. (2001) von Restorff Revisited: Isolation, generation and memory for order. Journal of Experimental Psychology; 27(1): 54-66.
• Fabiani, M. & Donchin, E. (1995) Encoding Processes and Memory Organization: A Model of the von Restorff Effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology; 21(1): 224-240.
• Gumenik, W. AND. & Levitt, J. (1968) The Von Restorff Effect as a Function of Difference of the Isolated Item. The American Journal of Psychology; 81(2): 247-252.
• Green, R.T. (1956) Surprise as a factor in the von Restorff effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology; 52(5): 340-344.