UX Fundamentals for Non-UX Professionals: User Experience Principles for Managers, Writers, Designers, and Developers

© Edward Stull 2018

Edward StullUX Fundamentals for Non-UX Professionalshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3811-0_17

17. Memory

Edward Stull¹ 

(1)

Upper Arlington, Ohio, USA

 

In September 1959, psychology researchers Lloyd and Margaret Peterson tested how quickly people forget information.¹ The researchers asked their study participants to remember a random trigram , a three-letter group (e.g., KHZ). Next, the researchers gave the participants a three-digit number (e.g., 375). The participants were then instructed to count backward from the number by subtracting three (e.g., 372, 369, 366, etc.).

Try it yourself. Ready?

1. 1.

   Remember “KHZ”.

    
2. 2.

   Set a timer for 12 seconds.

    
3. 3.

   Count backward by three, starting with 375.

    
4. 4.

   Look away from the page and return ...