Reconstructive memory for everyday objects

Can you draw from memory the Apple logo, which would seem to be ubiquitous? As it turns out, it’s unlikely. Psychologists from the University of California at Los Angeles conducted a study that demonstrates the features of the work of human memory. The work “Everyday attention, meta-memory and reconstructive memory for the Apple logo” was published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology .

Reconstructive memory is the process by which the memory of an event is distorted by information that has come into view after this event has occurred.

The experiment involved 85 students from the University of California, Los Angeles. Everyone had to draw a logo on a blank sheet of paper, indicate the degree of confidence in their answer. As a result, only one student was able to correctly depict this figure.

Here are samples of what came out of the subjects. The figure in the center is the only one recognized as correct.



Less than half of the students recognized the correct logo when they were offered a choice of several similar shapes. By the way, everyone can pass such a test.

Online Apple logo recognition test.

Among the participants were 52 users of Apple products, 10 users of other equipment and 23 students who use both Apple technology and another.

How can it be that such a simple, recognizable and memorable logo is distorted in the memory of users? “People have trouble choosing the right logo, even if it’s right in front of them,” says UCLA associate professor Alan Castel, who in 2012 showed that most office workers are not able to pinpoint the location of a bright red fire extinguisher near the office although they passed him hundreds or thousands of times.

Scientists still find it difficult to name the reasons for the manifestation of reconstructive memory in such cases. According to one version, the brain does not specifically remember specific small details. For efficiency, he does not need to store a detailed image of the corporate logo in his memory.

Studies show that people are practically not able to accurately remember other everyday objects. For example, even experienced users will hardly name the location of all the keys on the keyboard, although they spent many years with it.