Of the many new experiences that infants have each day, which ones will they remember? A new study entitled “The effects of exposure to dynamic expressions of affect on 5-month-olds’ memory” published in the journal Infant Behavior and Development suggests that infants are more likely to remember a unique geometric shape whenever a positive emotion accompanies it. The study is the first of it’s kind to explore how emotion may influence infant’s memories.
Researchers from Bringham Young University monitored infants’ eye movements and measured how long the babies look at a particular image.
More of the study is described below, taken from an article on Medical Daily written by Susan Scutti:
“To begin their experiment, the researchers enlisted the help of a group of mothers and their 5-month-old babies. The mothers set their infants in front of a monitor. Then, a person appeared on the screen. The person spoke to the baby in either a happy, neutral, or angry tone of voice, and immediately following this, the babies saw a novel geometric shape materialize on the screen.
After this “emotional exposure,” the researchers proceeded to test the babies’ memories. Five minutes after the test, some of the babies saw two side-by-side geometric shapes: a brand new one, and the original one from the study. Here, the researchers recorded how many times the baby looked from one image to the next and also how long they spent looking at each shape. One day later, the researchers conducted the same test with the remaining babies, monitoring their eye movements as they showed them the two images. What did they discover?
The babies performed significantly better at remembering the novel shape when it was attached to positive voices. Following the 5-minute interval, infants exposed to the happy voice showed a “reliable preference” for the novel geometric shape compared to the previously unseen image. The infants who heard a neutral or angry voice did not show this same preference. After the one day interval, though, infants exposed to both the happy and neutral voice showed a reliable preference for the novel geometric shape. However, paired with a negative voice, the shape did not stick in their memories.
“We think what happens is that the positive affect heightens the babies’ attentional system and arousal,” said Dr. Ross Flom, a BYU psychology professor and lead author of the study. “By heightening those systems, we heighten their ability to process and perhaps remember this geometric pattern.”
Normally people go nuts for free stuff. It seems like ads touting “Buy one get one free,” or “25% more for free” cause shoppers to almost salivate. I bet you’ve been places where things were being given away for free and you found yourself taking items (pens, card holders, travel mugs, post it notes, etc.) that ended up in the trashcan within weeks of getting home. And still, we take the goods because they’re free. After all, you can’t loose by taking advantage of free…or can you?Have you ever ordered something on Amazon for less than $25 then found yourself ordering another book or item just to bump you over the threshold in order to take advantage of the free shipping? I bet you have and you probably ended up spending $33-$38 in total. Sure, you convinced yourself you needed that extra book or CD but in reality you would not have purchased it were it not for the enticement of the free shipping. Dan Ariely highlights our obsession with “free” things in his book Predictably Irrationalin a chapter he calls “The Cost of Zero Cost: Why We Often Pay Too Much When We Pay Nothing.” He convincingly shows readers sometimes they end up worse off because of free.The obsession with free has its limits and this came to light recently with Apple’s promotion with the Irish rock band U2. It seemed innocent enough, and generous of Apple and U2, to have the band’s latest album, Songs of Innocence, automatically added to the iTunes library of some 500 million people. Unfortunately for both, many subscribers didn’t appreciate the free album and voiced their opinion rather loudly on social media. In fact, there was an article titled Free U2 album: How the most generous giveaway in music history turned PR disaster. Ouch!I think what was missed by Apple and U2 in their well-intentioned giveaway was this – free isn’t really free if it’s not freely chosen. While there may have been no purchase cost for the album, people lost their freedom to choose whether or not they wanted to add it to their libraries. In other words, forced isn’t free no matter how good the intention.What should they have done instead? In my opinion offering the album for free for a limited time would have enticed many people to take advantage of the giveaway. Think about it; U2 is an iconic band that’s done a lot of good for people across the globe through charitable work that could only have come about because of their fans. They could have positioned the opportunity for the free album as their way of saying thanks. I’m sure each band member is probably set for life financially so they don’t need the money and could have really made a splash.By putting a timeframe on it they would have engaged the principle scarcity, which would have caused many people to want the album even more and act quickly. This is important because when things are free and abundant we usually don’t value them nearly as much as when they are restricted in some way. Think about air and water. Without air we die within minutes and without water we won’t survive for very long either. There may not be two things more necessary for life and yet they are an afterthought for most people…until they’re in short supply. When that happens we’d pay more for either than just about anything else in the world because our lives might be at stake.I don’t think Apple or U2 deserved the intense backlash they got but let it be a lesson to all of us – no matter how beloved we, our company, our products/services, may be, never infringe on people’s freedom to choose. Understanding that and correctly positioning a gift could make all the difference in how it’s received and how we’re perceived. 
Brian Ahearn, CMCT® Chief Influence Officer influencePEOPLE Helping You Learn to Hear “Yes”.