I have a friend who once told me how he remembered seeing Lee Marvin on the Johnny Carson show, tell a story about getting injured in WWII. While telling the story, Marvin apparently told Carson that the real hero that day was a Marine by the name of Bob Keeshan... who (as Marvin put it), "we all know as Captain Kangaroo". As my friend finished telling me this story, I told him there were two things I needed to tell him. One was that I had recently listened to an exceptional documentary about how memory actually works, and that it is not the perfect video camera that we all believe it to be. And, second... that story about Lee Marvin, Carson and Keeshan... never happened; there is no such interview on the Carson show. Now, my friend has a bit of a short fuse and he was adamant that the story was true because he SAW it with his own eyes. And nothing I said could make him believe any different. I told him that was fine, but he should do a few things first. One, try to find that video on RUclips (or anywhere else), and two... look up Bob Keeshan's service record (because I knew he had enlisted too late to see combat and was still in the U.S. when Japan surrendered). My friend agreed to do these things, and was rather shocked to discover I was telling the truth. But he couldn't wrap his head around how he would have sworn for a fact that he saw that interview and personally listened to Marvin tell it. I felt like I knew the answer to this (although, I could be wrong), but... ... I asked him, "Do you know what Johnny Carson looks like"? "Of course!", he replied. "... and you know what Lee Marvin looks and sounds like?" "Obviousely.", he said. "... and you know what Johnny Carson's set looks like?". "Yeah." "...well", I said, ..." that's it. As you read that urban legend, you were able to visualize Lee Marvin on the 'Tonight Show', telling the story to Carson. Then, much later, you remembered reading that story - maybe you were telling someone about it - and you told them that, you either read it or saw it on TV, you weren't sure, until one day, you told this story and you absolutely believed you actually saw it on Carson's show instead of having read it. And that's how you developed a false memory of seeing something that never happened."
I see this happen all the time with route drivers, they get so focused on some object they become blind to the fixed objects around them running into them with their vehicle.
I have a friend who once told me how he remembered seeing Lee Marvin on the Johnny Carson show, tell a story about getting injured in WWII. While telling the story, Marvin apparently told Carson that the real hero that day was a Marine by the name of Bob Keeshan... who (as Marvin put it), "we all know as Captain Kangaroo". As my friend finished telling me this story, I told him there were two things I needed to tell him. One was that I had recently listened to an exceptional documentary about how memory actually works, and that it is not the perfect video camera that we all believe it to be. And, second... that story about Lee Marvin, Carson and Keeshan... never happened; there is no such interview on the Carson show.
Now, my friend has a bit of a short fuse and he was adamant that the story was true because he SAW it with his own eyes. And nothing I said could make him believe any different. I told him that was fine, but he should do a few things first. One, try to find that video on RUclips (or anywhere else), and two... look up Bob Keeshan's service record (because I knew he had enlisted too late to see combat and was still in the U.S. when Japan surrendered). My friend agreed to do these things, and was rather shocked to discover I was telling the truth. But he couldn't wrap his head around how he would have sworn for a fact that he saw that interview and personally listened to Marvin tell it. I felt like I knew the answer to this (although, I could be wrong), but...
... I asked him, "Do you know what Johnny Carson looks like"?
"Of course!", he replied.
"... and you know what Lee Marvin looks and sounds like?"
"Obviousely.", he said.
"... and you know what Johnny Carson's set looks like?".
"Yeah."
"...well", I said, ..." that's it. As you read that urban legend, you were able to visualize Lee Marvin on the 'Tonight Show', telling the story to Carson. Then, much later, you remembered reading that story - maybe you were telling someone about it - and you told them that, you either read it or saw it on TV, you weren't sure, until one day, you told this story and you absolutely believed you actually saw it on Carson's show instead of having read it. And that's how you developed a false memory of seeing something that never happened."
I see this happen all the time with route drivers, they get so focused on some object they become blind to the fixed objects around them running into them with their vehicle.
Really good, Thankyou
Muy buena plática sobre la atención y los trucos que nos hace la mente.
Perhaps he should have paid more attention to the slides he used. 7:25 'Who want's to be a millionaire' slide is an internet hoax.
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5 years and 4545 views, and i have the first comment