Through brain scanning techniques, researchers have uncovered how sequences of familiar events—like dining in a restaurant or navigating an airport—serve as scaffolds for our memories. Ingrid Wickelgren explores how these "event scripts." as scientists call them, help us connect new experiences to past knowledge, influencing what details we remember.
The brain was not just segmenting at the boundaries people recognized as meaningful scene changes. Some parts of the brain subdivided the experience into shorter segments. In the visual system, shifts in activity occurred every second or so in response to changes in lighting and scenery. In mid-level visual regions that represent objects, brain activity shifted every 30 seconds or so to, say, track Cumberbatch as he moved across the screen.
Expert chess players need only glance at the board to remember the positions of pieces, though for most people the arrangement would be vexing to reconstruct. Because they’ve played many games, chess masters recognize patterns where others are overwhelmed by detail. Similarly, when you meet friends at a restaurant, you know the server will come to take your food order; because you are not baffled by the basic sequence of events, you’re better able to remember flavors, details of your conversations, the person at the next table.