Brainchild (2018) s01e12 Episode Script
Memories
I've been a detective in this city,
my city, as long as I can remember.
But I'll never forget that night.
It was a Wednesday.
Or was it a Friday?
I recall I was settling back with my
evening milk and cookies,
when she
walked into my life.
I'm looking for a detective.
Sorry, miss. We're closed.
-Cookie?
-Please! You gotta help me!
I don't know what to do!
We get that a lot, miss.
But I just pulled a long all-dayer.
Leave your details
with my assistant, and--
Oh, wait.
I don't have an assistant.
They were supposed to start today.
I've got no one else to turn to, mister.
I'm desperate.
[jazz music]
I took pity on her.
Against my better instincts,
I decided to help her.
All right, all right.
What seems to be the problem?
I can't remember.
What don't you remember?
I can't remember
what I forgot to remember.
It didn't make sense then, or now,
but I took the case.
Your identity.
A collection of memories
that form your life's story
and help you navigate your everyday world.
What exactly are memories?
Why is it we can remember
some things and not the others?
How well can you trust your memory?
And, most importantly, are there ways
to get better at remembering?
Excuse me, miss!
Who are you?
Get ready for an episode to remember
on Brainchild.
[footsteps]
-[glass breaks]
-[cat miaows]
So
what exactly are memories
and how well can you trust them?
Let's find out. Remember our detective?
Of course you do.
You just saw him a few seconds ago.
But how well were you
really paying attention?
Did our detective look like 'A'
'B'
'C'
or 'D'?
So, which one is he?
Have you made your pick?
If you picked D, well, you might need
to get your eyes checked.
And if you thought he was
one of these private-eye imposters,
your memory might need to get a clue.
The answer, of course, is 'C'!
If it was easy to pick our detective
out of a lineup,
be sure to thank your memory.
To help you understand
what memories are,
let's first figure out
the purpose of memories.
Why is it important to remember things?
Well, just imagine
if you didn't have a memory.
[dramatic music]
It's date night
and Ben is cooking up dinner.
Slurp!
Mmm.
[sizzles]
Yaaaahhhhhhh!
Ouch! That looked like it hurt!
Ow.
Now, what would happen
if you didn't have a memory?
Slurp!
[sizzles]
Arrrrrgh!
Ow.
Luckily, you don't live
in a memory-erasing alternate universe.
[dramatic classical music]
Your memory evolved to help you learn
from past mistakes
so you don't repeat
the same harmful actions in the future.
Ohh!
Squelch!
Ping!
You need your memory to keep you safe.
Over the course of your life,
you rely on your memory for everything,
from finding your way home
to recognizing friend from foe.
So, you need a good memory system
to keep track of who you can trust
and who you should stay away from.
Excuse me, miss?
That's a lot to keep track of.
Say, how much information
can a brain hold?
Well, that's a good question,
Detective Forgetful.
The answer is, it's complicated.
Luckily, we have Alie Ward
to help explain.
Alie Ward.
So how exactly do you make a memory?
Well, it all happens
right where you would expect it to.
In your brain.
This is a neuron.
Your brain contains 80 to 100 billion
of these little guys,
and they're constantly communicating
to keep your mind and body going strong.
Scientists think memories are stored
not in the neurons themselves,
but in the patterns of signaling
between the neurons.
Like a fingerprint, each memory may have
its own unique pattern.
And with 100 trillion connections
across neurons,
your brain has the potential to store
an infinite amount of information.
So why don't you remember more?
Think about it. When you study,
you don't memorize every
word of the textbook.
And when you look at a photograph,
do you remember every pixel?
[speaks in stereo] Of course not.
You only see the complete image.
But how well can you remember
what's in an image?
To find out, take a look at this photo
of the detective agency.
Looking a little dark in here.
Let's turn the lights on.
That's better.
We're going to give you ten seconds
to remember as many details as you can.
Ready?
Go!
Time's up!
Here's another photo
of the detective agency,
but in this one we've changed ten things.
See if you can spot them all!
Ten seconds on the clock.
Go!
Time's up!
Find all ten changes?
Well, let's go through them.
In the first picture,
his coat was hanging behind him,
and he was wearing a different hat.
He had cookies on his desk, not doughnuts.
He also had more milk,
a typewriter, a different lamp.
There were arms on the chair.
There was another photo on the wall.
There was a globe,
and his filing cabinet drawer was closed.
So did you get all ten?
You might have missed a few.
If so, there's a reason for that.
While your eyes can perceive
a wide field of view in front of you,
your brain only has the ability to really
pay attention to one thing at a time.
When you focus your attention,
it's like zooming a camera.
Whatever you zoom in on is
what's recorded
in your memory.
Arrrgh!
So, if you're only paying attention
to one thing at a time,
using something like a camera
should help your memory. Right?
You're about to find out
in this experiment.
Sight at the museum.
We've invited some volunteers to an
art museum
to test their ability
to remember the details of some pictures
But, there's a twist.
We've instructed half of them to take
photos of the art using their cell phone.
Will that give them an advantage?
Let's see whose memories
are up to the challenge.
I have a really good memory
most of the time.
I have a strong memory.
I have a BFA in musical theater,
so I believe I have a good,
strong memory.
Well, we'll soon find out.
But first it's time
to challenge your memory.
We're going to let you study four images
and then quiz you afterwards.
Step on up. You have ten seconds
to study each one.
Okay. Time's up.
Here's the next one.
Next up.
And, here is our last picture.
Okay. Let's see what you remember.
How many elephants were
in the first picture?
Three elephants.
-Three.
-Three.
There were three.
Three elephants.
There were three.
[elephant roars]
Okay. That was a pretty easy one.
Next question.
In the second picture,
what city is the lighthouse in?
It said where it was?
Oh, I did not catch that.
It's in Montauk.
Montauk.
Montauk.
Montauk.
Montauk.
Okay. Let's make this a little harder.
In the picture of the airplane,
was the cloud above or below the plane?
It's below the plane.
Above the plane.
Below the plane.
Above?
The cloud is below the plane.
Is your memory a little cloudy?
Well, the cloud is below the plane,
but before we prove it,
how many propellers were on the plane?
-One.
-One.
-Just one propeller.
-One propeller.
Two propellers.
-Two propellers?
-One.
Got your answer?
There's only one propeller.
Okay. Last picture.
How much were the stamps worth?
Five cents.
The stamps cost ten cents each.
-Twenty-five.
-Fifty cents.
Looks like they're going up in value!
But they're not.
Because the stamps are only five cents.
And for our final question,
where are the stamps from?
I do not remember--
where they're from.
-France.
-France.
-France.
-The stamps were from France.
Oui. France it is.
That was pretty tough,
and some people did better than others.
-France.
-Three elephants.
One propellor.
Below the plane.
-Oo!
-Oh.
I don't remember.
Uh!
So do the top four people just have
better memories than the bottom four?
Now, if you remember, there was a twist.
Half of these museum-goers
were instructed to take
photos of the art with their cell phone.
Can you guess which of these groups
were our photographers?
You might be surprised to learn
it was our
forgetful four in the bottom row.
But why is that?
Huhhoh.
Oh. Hey um
So, could your cell phone actually
make you worse at remembering things?
Unfortunately, yes.
Scientists call it cognitive offloading.
Which theorizes that
our increasing reliance on
modern technology
is negatively affecting our thought
processes for problem-solving,
recall, and learning.
Makes sense. If you take a pic,
you're less likely to remember.
It said where it was?
Oh, I did not catch that.
It's in your phone,
so you don't need to remember it.
I'm thinking the phone
might have distracted me.
When you offload your memory to a machine,
like your cell phone,
you are greatly diminishing your ability
to remember it on your own.
Of course, when it comes to remembering
hundreds of phone numbers,
your brain's no match for your cell phone.
But what about when it comes
to remembering faces?
Your brain is designed to read
and recognize other people's mugs.
But how well does it
actually remember them?
What about faces you see every day?
Let's put your facial
recognition to the test
in this next experiment.
Find that face.
Aarr.
In this experiment,
we're asking two kids to describe
one of their parents
to a sketch artist.
Then, using just the sketch,
we'll see if you can pick the real parent
out of a lineup.
How well could you accurately describe
your mom or dad's face just from memory?
[baby gurgles]
Describe her head shape.
Kind of the same as mine.
It's less pointy.
What does your dad's forehead look like?
Um.
Her hair goes back like that.
He's bald.
How would you describe her ears?
They're a little round.
That big.
Can you describe her eyebrows?
-
Not a unibrow.
Bushy and sort of nonexistent.
She looks like she's
in her 20s or in her 30s.
-That's lovely.
-She's actually 51.
Oh! Okay.
Can you describe his mouth?
[silence]
[laughs]
I think she has a cold sore here
or something.
What's your dad's neck like?
Umm.
She does have glasses.
That's a major detail, sir.
-What do you think?
-You're really good
at drawing.
Great memory, Lucas
My mom tells me the same thing.
Okay. It's time to meet Lucas's mom.
First, you need to pick her
out of this lineup.
Take a look at these four women.
Which do you think looks most
like Lucas's memory of his mom?
Is it number one?
Number two?
Number three?
Or, number four?
Here comes Lucas to give us the answer.
Lucas was pretty confident
in his description.
Did you pick his real mom?
That's my mom.
Now, let's see how things turned out
with Mia's drawing of her dad.
So do you think this sketch is
an accurate representation of your dad?
No.
Looks like Mia had a difficult time
describing someone she sees every day
Does he look a little bit like a lady?
which might make it harder for you
to pick her real dad out of a lineup.
Which of these four is Mia's dad?
Got your answer?
If you picked number one,
you're right,
which is impressive because
It looks nothing like me.
Lucas seemed to have
a good visual memory
She has a cold sore here.
Mia struggled to describe the details.
Bushy, and
nonexistent.
So what caused this facial memory fail?
You may like to think
you'd never forget a face.
But as this experiment proves,
your memory is not perfect.
Umm.
These lineups were just for fun.
But the truth is,
eyewitnesses often make mistakes
when it comes to
identifying suspects.
Part of that comes from the fact that
every time you think back on a memory,
that memory changes slightly based
on how you're feeling at that moment.
This is the reason why two people
can remember the exact same incident,
place or face, very differently.
Very differently.
What are some ways to improve your memory?
We've brought in memory champ Spidey
to teach you an amazing hack
in this next game.
Master your memory.
As a mentalist, people think
I've got a super memory,
and the truth is, they're
100 percent right.
I have an extraordinary memory.
I can remember anything without any help.
Uh hu hu hu hu.
All right. The truth is,
I learned techniques to help me
remember things I normally wouldn't.
And I'm going to teach you
to do the same.
First, I'll show you what it looks like.
Check this out.
We've brought a group of volunteers
to put our memory champ's powers
to the test and discover
his secret for memorizing
a long list of items.
I need someone to help me.
What's your name?
-Anna.
-Anna.
You won't get a number. The rest will.
You're number one.
You're two. Eight,
12, 19, 20.
I want you each to think
of any object
on the planet. Like a skateboard.
Does everyone have one?
Ok. Lock that in your mind.
When I say your number,
tell me your object.
Will the champ be able
to quickly memorize all 20 items
and correctly recite back the whole list?
Think you can keep up?
Play along
and try to keep track of each object.
Okay, here we go. One.
Bicycle.
-Two.
-A rock.
-Three.
-Glass plate.
-Four.
-Rubber band.
-Five.
-Flower.
Six.
Microphone.
-Seven.
-Cake pops.
-Eight.
-Turntable.
-Nine.
-Pinecone.
Ten.
Therapy ball.
-Eleven.
-Lion.
-Twelve.
-Banana.
-Thirteen.
-Crib.
-Fourteen.
-Grass.
Fifteen.
Ukulele.
-Sixteen.
-Ruby.
-Seventeen.
-Beachball.
Eighteen.
Helicopter.
-Nineteen.
-Fishing rod.
-And twenty.
-Frisbee.
So you've each told me your items,
now the fun part. Anna, come here.
Anna, do you think that
you can in any way name
the item each person thought of?
-I remember some.
-So, how are you doing at home:
Do you remember what number six was?
What about number 14?
Having trouble?
Get ready for Spidey's total recall.
Number one is bicycle.
Two is a rock.
Three is glass plate.
Four is rubber band,
flower, microphone,
cake pop, turntable,
pine cone, therapy ball,
lion, banana,
crib, grass,
ukulele, ruby,
beach ball, helicopter,
fishing rod.
Twenty is a Frisbee.
That's all 20. Boom!
You're probably wondering
how I memorized 20 items.
Yeah!
It's called the mnemonic peg system.
It's a very simply system
for remembering lists of things.
Now, 20 is a lot. I'm going to start off-
by teaching you guys a list of 10 objects.
-Okay.
-Okay.
I have different words that rhyme
with the numbers one through ten,
and those are always the same. One is sun.
Two is shoe. Three is tree.
Four is door. Five is hive.
Six is sticks.
Seven is heaven. Eight is a gate.
Nine is a sign,
and ten is a pen.
When you give me your object,
I associate it
to that image in my head.
For example, one is sun. So, I saw
a big sun, in that sun, I saw a bicycle.
Then I went to two.
You said rock.
So two is shoe, so I've got
this image of a pair of shoes
with rocks in them.
Then three is tree. You said glass plates.
So I have an image of a big tree
with glass plates
falling and shattering all over.
Four is door. Your item was rubber bands.
So I pictured rubber bands
all over the door frame.
Five is a beehive, and you said flowers.
So I pictured a hive with flowers
growing out of it.
Six is sticks. You said microphone.
So I imagined two drumsticks
drumming on top of a microphone.
Seven is heaven.
You said cake pop.
I imagined one flying up to heaven.
You're not going to forget that.
Eight's gate. You said turntable
I imagine this big gate,
and through the gate,
I see the turntables.
Nine is a sign.
And you said pine cones.
So I saw this big billboard
on the highway
with a big pine cone on it.
And then ten is pen.
You had a therapy ball.
I just imagined a pen
writing all over the therapy ball.
Who thinks they can do the whole list?
How about you? Think you have it
memorized this time?
Give it a shot along with this girl
and see if you can recite all ten objects.
So if you can do this,
I might fangirl a little bit.
Okay. Number one was the sun.
What was in the sun?
-Bicycle.
-Two, what was in the shoes?
-Rocks.
-Three was tree. What was in the tree?
-Glass plates.
-Four was door. What was on the door?
Rubber bands.
Five was beehive. What was on that?
-Flowers.
-OMG!
-Six was sticks. What did th--
-Microphone.
-What's in heaven?
-Cakepops.
-Through the gate?
-Turntable.
-What's on the big sign?
-Pine cone.
-Ten was a pen. What was it writing on?
-Therapy balls.
Awesome. She nailed it.
Nice work, mini memory champ.
So, did we
just give your memorizing skills
an upgrade?
Now you have a secret code
to unlock your memory
when you need to remember a shopping list,
a homework assignment, or
help her recall whatever it is she forgot.
I don't know what to say.
I've worked every lead.
Coming up zeros. Are you
sure you didn't just
forget to feed the cat or something?
I don't have a cat.
I don't think.
Sorry.
I'm under a lot of stress.
A new assistant
was supposed to start today,
but they never showed up.
Oh, my goodness. You did it.
You solved the case.
-I did? Of course I did.
-Yes.
I was supposed to start my new job today.
I'm your new assistant.
Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
Look, lady!
It's bad enough my memory is shot.
We wouldn't make much of a team.
I agree. A hundred percent. I quit.
I'm not cut out
for this private-eye stuff.
Too much voiceover.
She was right.
Best way to maintain your memory?
Repetition, repetition and repetition.
People think I was born
with some sort of super memory.
Super memory.
Super memory.
My mem-- My memory is
T
Not bad.
Recall and learning.
Oops!
Look, lady!
Ah It's a shame that my memory
is so shot. But urgh
[film crew laugh]
I am a hugger.
my city, as long as I can remember.
But I'll never forget that night.
It was a Wednesday.
Or was it a Friday?
I recall I was settling back with my
evening milk and cookies,
when she
walked into my life.
I'm looking for a detective.
Sorry, miss. We're closed.
-Cookie?
-Please! You gotta help me!
I don't know what to do!
We get that a lot, miss.
But I just pulled a long all-dayer.
Leave your details
with my assistant, and--
Oh, wait.
I don't have an assistant.
They were supposed to start today.
I've got no one else to turn to, mister.
I'm desperate.
[jazz music]
I took pity on her.
Against my better instincts,
I decided to help her.
All right, all right.
What seems to be the problem?
I can't remember.
What don't you remember?
I can't remember
what I forgot to remember.
It didn't make sense then, or now,
but I took the case.
Your identity.
A collection of memories
that form your life's story
and help you navigate your everyday world.
What exactly are memories?
Why is it we can remember
some things and not the others?
How well can you trust your memory?
And, most importantly, are there ways
to get better at remembering?
Excuse me, miss!
Who are you?
Get ready for an episode to remember
on Brainchild.
[footsteps]
-[glass breaks]
-[cat miaows]
So
what exactly are memories
and how well can you trust them?
Let's find out. Remember our detective?
Of course you do.
You just saw him a few seconds ago.
But how well were you
really paying attention?
Did our detective look like 'A'
'B'
'C'
or 'D'?
So, which one is he?
Have you made your pick?
If you picked D, well, you might need
to get your eyes checked.
And if you thought he was
one of these private-eye imposters,
your memory might need to get a clue.
The answer, of course, is 'C'!
If it was easy to pick our detective
out of a lineup,
be sure to thank your memory.
To help you understand
what memories are,
let's first figure out
the purpose of memories.
Why is it important to remember things?
Well, just imagine
if you didn't have a memory.
[dramatic music]
It's date night
and Ben is cooking up dinner.
Slurp!
Mmm.
[sizzles]
Yaaaahhhhhhh!
Ouch! That looked like it hurt!
Ow.
Now, what would happen
if you didn't have a memory?
Slurp!
[sizzles]
Arrrrrgh!
Ow.
Luckily, you don't live
in a memory-erasing alternate universe.
[dramatic classical music]
Your memory evolved to help you learn
from past mistakes
so you don't repeat
the same harmful actions in the future.
Ohh!
Squelch!
Ping!
You need your memory to keep you safe.
Over the course of your life,
you rely on your memory for everything,
from finding your way home
to recognizing friend from foe.
So, you need a good memory system
to keep track of who you can trust
and who you should stay away from.
Excuse me, miss?
That's a lot to keep track of.
Say, how much information
can a brain hold?
Well, that's a good question,
Detective Forgetful.
The answer is, it's complicated.
Luckily, we have Alie Ward
to help explain.
Alie Ward.
So how exactly do you make a memory?
Well, it all happens
right where you would expect it to.
In your brain.
This is a neuron.
Your brain contains 80 to 100 billion
of these little guys,
and they're constantly communicating
to keep your mind and body going strong.
Scientists think memories are stored
not in the neurons themselves,
but in the patterns of signaling
between the neurons.
Like a fingerprint, each memory may have
its own unique pattern.
And with 100 trillion connections
across neurons,
your brain has the potential to store
an infinite amount of information.
So why don't you remember more?
Think about it. When you study,
you don't memorize every
word of the textbook.
And when you look at a photograph,
do you remember every pixel?
[speaks in stereo] Of course not.
You only see the complete image.
But how well can you remember
what's in an image?
To find out, take a look at this photo
of the detective agency.
Looking a little dark in here.
Let's turn the lights on.
That's better.
We're going to give you ten seconds
to remember as many details as you can.
Ready?
Go!
Time's up!
Here's another photo
of the detective agency,
but in this one we've changed ten things.
See if you can spot them all!
Ten seconds on the clock.
Go!
Time's up!
Find all ten changes?
Well, let's go through them.
In the first picture,
his coat was hanging behind him,
and he was wearing a different hat.
He had cookies on his desk, not doughnuts.
He also had more milk,
a typewriter, a different lamp.
There were arms on the chair.
There was another photo on the wall.
There was a globe,
and his filing cabinet drawer was closed.
So did you get all ten?
You might have missed a few.
If so, there's a reason for that.
While your eyes can perceive
a wide field of view in front of you,
your brain only has the ability to really
pay attention to one thing at a time.
When you focus your attention,
it's like zooming a camera.
Whatever you zoom in on is
what's recorded
in your memory.
Arrrgh!
So, if you're only paying attention
to one thing at a time,
using something like a camera
should help your memory. Right?
You're about to find out
in this experiment.
Sight at the museum.
We've invited some volunteers to an
art museum
to test their ability
to remember the details of some pictures
But, there's a twist.
We've instructed half of them to take
photos of the art using their cell phone.
Will that give them an advantage?
Let's see whose memories
are up to the challenge.
I have a really good memory
most of the time.
I have a strong memory.
I have a BFA in musical theater,
so I believe I have a good,
strong memory.
Well, we'll soon find out.
But first it's time
to challenge your memory.
We're going to let you study four images
and then quiz you afterwards.
Step on up. You have ten seconds
to study each one.
Okay. Time's up.
Here's the next one.
Next up.
And, here is our last picture.
Okay. Let's see what you remember.
How many elephants were
in the first picture?
Three elephants.
-Three.
-Three.
There were three.
Three elephants.
There were three.
[elephant roars]
Okay. That was a pretty easy one.
Next question.
In the second picture,
what city is the lighthouse in?
It said where it was?
Oh, I did not catch that.
It's in Montauk.
Montauk.
Montauk.
Montauk.
Montauk.
Okay. Let's make this a little harder.
In the picture of the airplane,
was the cloud above or below the plane?
It's below the plane.
Above the plane.
Below the plane.
Above?
The cloud is below the plane.
Is your memory a little cloudy?
Well, the cloud is below the plane,
but before we prove it,
how many propellers were on the plane?
-One.
-One.
-Just one propeller.
-One propeller.
Two propellers.
-Two propellers?
-One.
Got your answer?
There's only one propeller.
Okay. Last picture.
How much were the stamps worth?
Five cents.
The stamps cost ten cents each.
-Twenty-five.
-Fifty cents.
Looks like they're going up in value!
But they're not.
Because the stamps are only five cents.
And for our final question,
where are the stamps from?
I do not remember--
where they're from.
-France.
-France.
-France.
-The stamps were from France.
Oui. France it is.
That was pretty tough,
and some people did better than others.
-France.
-Three elephants.
One propellor.
Below the plane.
-Oo!
-Oh.
I don't remember.
Uh!
So do the top four people just have
better memories than the bottom four?
Now, if you remember, there was a twist.
Half of these museum-goers
were instructed to take
photos of the art with their cell phone.
Can you guess which of these groups
were our photographers?
You might be surprised to learn
it was our
forgetful four in the bottom row.
But why is that?
Huhhoh.
Oh. Hey um
So, could your cell phone actually
make you worse at remembering things?
Unfortunately, yes.
Scientists call it cognitive offloading.
Which theorizes that
our increasing reliance on
modern technology
is negatively affecting our thought
processes for problem-solving,
recall, and learning.
Makes sense. If you take a pic,
you're less likely to remember.
It said where it was?
Oh, I did not catch that.
It's in your phone,
so you don't need to remember it.
I'm thinking the phone
might have distracted me.
When you offload your memory to a machine,
like your cell phone,
you are greatly diminishing your ability
to remember it on your own.
Of course, when it comes to remembering
hundreds of phone numbers,
your brain's no match for your cell phone.
But what about when it comes
to remembering faces?
Your brain is designed to read
and recognize other people's mugs.
But how well does it
actually remember them?
What about faces you see every day?
Let's put your facial
recognition to the test
in this next experiment.
Find that face.
Aarr.
In this experiment,
we're asking two kids to describe
one of their parents
to a sketch artist.
Then, using just the sketch,
we'll see if you can pick the real parent
out of a lineup.
How well could you accurately describe
your mom or dad's face just from memory?
[baby gurgles]
Describe her head shape.
Kind of the same as mine.
It's less pointy.
What does your dad's forehead look like?
Um.
Her hair goes back like that.
He's bald.
How would you describe her ears?
They're a little round.
That big.
Can you describe her eyebrows?
-
Not a unibrow.
Bushy and sort of nonexistent.
She looks like she's
in her 20s or in her 30s.
-That's lovely.
-She's actually 51.
Oh! Okay.
Can you describe his mouth?
[silence]
[laughs]
I think she has a cold sore here
or something.
What's your dad's neck like?
Umm.
She does have glasses.
That's a major detail, sir.
-What do you think?
-You're really good
at drawing.
Great memory, Lucas
My mom tells me the same thing.
Okay. It's time to meet Lucas's mom.
First, you need to pick her
out of this lineup.
Take a look at these four women.
Which do you think looks most
like Lucas's memory of his mom?
Is it number one?
Number two?
Number three?
Or, number four?
Here comes Lucas to give us the answer.
Lucas was pretty confident
in his description.
Did you pick his real mom?
That's my mom.
Now, let's see how things turned out
with Mia's drawing of her dad.
So do you think this sketch is
an accurate representation of your dad?
No.
Looks like Mia had a difficult time
describing someone she sees every day
Does he look a little bit like a lady?
which might make it harder for you
to pick her real dad out of a lineup.
Which of these four is Mia's dad?
Got your answer?
If you picked number one,
you're right,
which is impressive because
It looks nothing like me.
Lucas seemed to have
a good visual memory
She has a cold sore here.
Mia struggled to describe the details.
Bushy, and
nonexistent.
So what caused this facial memory fail?
You may like to think
you'd never forget a face.
But as this experiment proves,
your memory is not perfect.
Umm.
These lineups were just for fun.
But the truth is,
eyewitnesses often make mistakes
when it comes to
identifying suspects.
Part of that comes from the fact that
every time you think back on a memory,
that memory changes slightly based
on how you're feeling at that moment.
This is the reason why two people
can remember the exact same incident,
place or face, very differently.
Very differently.
What are some ways to improve your memory?
We've brought in memory champ Spidey
to teach you an amazing hack
in this next game.
Master your memory.
As a mentalist, people think
I've got a super memory,
and the truth is, they're
100 percent right.
I have an extraordinary memory.
I can remember anything without any help.
Uh hu hu hu hu.
All right. The truth is,
I learned techniques to help me
remember things I normally wouldn't.
And I'm going to teach you
to do the same.
First, I'll show you what it looks like.
Check this out.
We've brought a group of volunteers
to put our memory champ's powers
to the test and discover
his secret for memorizing
a long list of items.
I need someone to help me.
What's your name?
-Anna.
-Anna.
You won't get a number. The rest will.
You're number one.
You're two. Eight,
12, 19, 20.
I want you each to think
of any object
on the planet. Like a skateboard.
Does everyone have one?
Ok. Lock that in your mind.
When I say your number,
tell me your object.
Will the champ be able
to quickly memorize all 20 items
and correctly recite back the whole list?
Think you can keep up?
Play along
and try to keep track of each object.
Okay, here we go. One.
Bicycle.
-Two.
-A rock.
-Three.
-Glass plate.
-Four.
-Rubber band.
-Five.
-Flower.
Six.
Microphone.
-Seven.
-Cake pops.
-Eight.
-Turntable.
-Nine.
-Pinecone.
Ten.
Therapy ball.
-Eleven.
-Lion.
-Twelve.
-Banana.
-Thirteen.
-Crib.
-Fourteen.
-Grass.
Fifteen.
Ukulele.
-Sixteen.
-Ruby.
-Seventeen.
-Beachball.
Eighteen.
Helicopter.
-Nineteen.
-Fishing rod.
-And twenty.
-Frisbee.
So you've each told me your items,
now the fun part. Anna, come here.
Anna, do you think that
you can in any way name
the item each person thought of?
-I remember some.
-So, how are you doing at home:
Do you remember what number six was?
What about number 14?
Having trouble?
Get ready for Spidey's total recall.
Number one is bicycle.
Two is a rock.
Three is glass plate.
Four is rubber band,
flower, microphone,
cake pop, turntable,
pine cone, therapy ball,
lion, banana,
crib, grass,
ukulele, ruby,
beach ball, helicopter,
fishing rod.
Twenty is a Frisbee.
That's all 20. Boom!
You're probably wondering
how I memorized 20 items.
Yeah!
It's called the mnemonic peg system.
It's a very simply system
for remembering lists of things.
Now, 20 is a lot. I'm going to start off-
by teaching you guys a list of 10 objects.
-Okay.
-Okay.
I have different words that rhyme
with the numbers one through ten,
and those are always the same. One is sun.
Two is shoe. Three is tree.
Four is door. Five is hive.
Six is sticks.
Seven is heaven. Eight is a gate.
Nine is a sign,
and ten is a pen.
When you give me your object,
I associate it
to that image in my head.
For example, one is sun. So, I saw
a big sun, in that sun, I saw a bicycle.
Then I went to two.
You said rock.
So two is shoe, so I've got
this image of a pair of shoes
with rocks in them.
Then three is tree. You said glass plates.
So I have an image of a big tree
with glass plates
falling and shattering all over.
Four is door. Your item was rubber bands.
So I pictured rubber bands
all over the door frame.
Five is a beehive, and you said flowers.
So I pictured a hive with flowers
growing out of it.
Six is sticks. You said microphone.
So I imagined two drumsticks
drumming on top of a microphone.
Seven is heaven.
You said cake pop.
I imagined one flying up to heaven.
You're not going to forget that.
Eight's gate. You said turntable
I imagine this big gate,
and through the gate,
I see the turntables.
Nine is a sign.
And you said pine cones.
So I saw this big billboard
on the highway
with a big pine cone on it.
And then ten is pen.
You had a therapy ball.
I just imagined a pen
writing all over the therapy ball.
Who thinks they can do the whole list?
How about you? Think you have it
memorized this time?
Give it a shot along with this girl
and see if you can recite all ten objects.
So if you can do this,
I might fangirl a little bit.
Okay. Number one was the sun.
What was in the sun?
-Bicycle.
-Two, what was in the shoes?
-Rocks.
-Three was tree. What was in the tree?
-Glass plates.
-Four was door. What was on the door?
Rubber bands.
Five was beehive. What was on that?
-Flowers.
-OMG!
-Six was sticks. What did th--
-Microphone.
-What's in heaven?
-Cakepops.
-Through the gate?
-Turntable.
-What's on the big sign?
-Pine cone.
-Ten was a pen. What was it writing on?
-Therapy balls.
Awesome. She nailed it.
Nice work, mini memory champ.
So, did we
just give your memorizing skills
an upgrade?
Now you have a secret code
to unlock your memory
when you need to remember a shopping list,
a homework assignment, or
help her recall whatever it is she forgot.
I don't know what to say.
I've worked every lead.
Coming up zeros. Are you
sure you didn't just
forget to feed the cat or something?
I don't have a cat.
I don't think.
Sorry.
I'm under a lot of stress.
A new assistant
was supposed to start today,
but they never showed up.
Oh, my goodness. You did it.
You solved the case.
-I did? Of course I did.
-Yes.
I was supposed to start my new job today.
I'm your new assistant.
Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
Squeak! Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
Look, lady!
It's bad enough my memory is shot.
We wouldn't make much of a team.
I agree. A hundred percent. I quit.
I'm not cut out
for this private-eye stuff.
Too much voiceover.
She was right.
Best way to maintain your memory?
Repetition, repetition and repetition.
People think I was born
with some sort of super memory.
Super memory.
Super memory.
My mem-- My memory is
T
Not bad.
Recall and learning.
Oops!
Look, lady!
Ah It's a shame that my memory
is so shot. But urgh
[film crew laugh]
I am a hugger.