Associative Memory: A Simple Trick to Help Multitaskers Remember
Behavioral scientist Todd Rogers reflects on the absent-mindedness of today’s multitasking individuals and explains how our associative memory works. He also reveals why unusual visual cues, when placed strategically, can outperform any reminder app.
Every year, organizations spend millions of dollars trying to make their employees less forgetful. Companies invest heavily in software and planning systems. Administrators use various signs to catch employees’ attention and send out emails reminding colleagues to fill out schedules, register for incentive programs, or prepare for meetings. And, of course, people themselves battle their own forgetfulness.
But our experience has shown that many expensive digital and paper-based tools widely used to combat forgetfulness can be replaced by something as simple as a toy. The explanation may lie in novelty. Analyzing the shortcomings of our own memory, we wondered if linking an intention that’s easy to forget (like returning a library book) with an attention-grabbing cue—say, a toy alien that appears at the right time—could improve recall. In a recent article published in Psychological Science, we show that it really can.
The simple trick we call “reminder by association” is easy to use in a variety of situations: managers can use it to improve staff performance, marketers to boost sales, and busy professionals to remember to feed the goldfish or check in on a sick friend. Reminder by association links our intentions and goals (important things we need to remember in the future) with a cue that will appear when we need it most.
How Associative Reminders Work: The Coffee Shop Experiment
Take the case of a coffee shop trying to remind customers about coupons they can use on their next visit. In our research, we wanted to see if the “reminder by association” approach could help. We sent our assistants to work at a Cambridge, Massachusetts coffee shop for seven hours on a Tuesday. The café was busy, and our assistants handed out coupons on the street, offering people $1 off each purchase on Thursday (two days later). About 500 customers received coupons, each attached to a flyer. Half the customers got flyers that read, “When you see the cash register on Thursday, remember this coupon.” The other half received the same flyer plus an extra one with a colorful alien and a note saying that an alien would be at the register on Thursday to remind them to use their coupon.
The alien did its job: two days later, 24% of customers who were told about the alien remembered to use their coupon, compared to only 17% of those who got the standard cash register reminder. That’s a 41% increase over those who didn’t use the coupon at all!
Why Do Unusual Cues Work Better?
Why is the alien more effective than the cash register? For associative reminders to work well, they need to be distinctive—out of place, something that stands out. For example, to remind yourself to mail a stack of bills in the morning, put a tennis ball on top of them. If you want to remember to get a flu shot at your local clinic in the fall, try telling yourself you’ll go when Halloween decorations go up. Or, to remind employees to fill out a sign-up sheet for the holiday party, place it next to a new, large glass ornament at the receptionist’s desk and tell colleagues to sign up when they see the new decoration in the office.
Moving from the coffee shop to our research lab, we found that distinctive visual cues can work even better than written reminders. In one online experiment, participants planning to make a charitable donation were told they’d be reminded either with a written note or an image of an alien. When the time came, 92% of those who saw the alien remembered to donate, compared to 78% who saw a written reminder and 71% who received no reminder at all.
Associative Reminders Save Time and Money
Reminder by association could make it much easier for people to achieve their goals while saving their own and their organization’s resources. Unfortunately, many underestimate the need for such cues. In one experiment, we gave participants the option to pay a small fee (three cents) to receive a signal (a picture of an elephant) reminding them to take a step needed to earn a 60-cent bonus. Only 53% chose to pay for the reminder. Those who did were more likely to claim their bonus and ended up with more money (after the reminder fee) than those who declined the service.
This memory trick—featuring aliens and elephants—may seem odd, but it can truly save you or your organization time and money, and even improve your well-being. To see for yourself, try using associative reminders to nudge people toward important but easily forgotten tasks—from updating various reports to scheduling an annual checkup. Who would have thought a toy alien could be so powerful?