Isolation Effect - dintinctiveness & its impact in your brain
76: Von Restorff effect - use it to your advantage in every area of life.
Uncommon things are interesting. It stays longer in your mind — nagging.
Usually the unusual disturbs us more than the usual.
A pink (colored) slip (pun intended) in your office space gets your attention more than any other. Because it is not usual, it is distinctive and it doesn’t fit the pattern of usual things.
Von Restorff effect (or) Isolation Effect predicts that when multiple homogeneous stimuli are presented, the stimulus that differs from the rest is more likely to be remembered.
otherwise, when multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered
Something unique, uncommon, unusual —different from the pattern, and distinctive in its characteristics will tend to attract your attention most and the impact of it on your brain is heavier — so it will be easy to remember (for a long time).
When you recollect your past, you can see yourself that you can remember that is more unique than usual.
You can remember the peculiar scenes of your past, some point of moment that changed your life.
In things, the most unique one attracts us.
It is hard to forget a person who doesn’t fit the commonality of the environment.
A unique word, a point that was not in the regular paradigm, a thought or an idea that is delivered in a very unusual way, etc, etc is very hard to forget because it has a hold on your brain because of this ‘unique’ effect.
Use the Von Restorff effect to your advantage.
Although the ‘isolation effect’ is more useful in learning and remembering, here I give a few thoughts on where it can be utilized.
When you want to remember something, focus more on its distinctiveness by comparing it to other usual things that you can easily remember.
Highlight a point in a different color (something like pink, or violet which people usually don’t see often) in your PowerPoint slides.
Introduce yourself in a way that no one ever usually does. Say something out of the ordinary for people to remember you.
Make things stand apart from the crowd. Whether you want to remember it or you want others to remember it.
Your brain has this instinct to isolate things that don’t fit the environment (usually).
In cavemen's times, it is either seen as a threat or an opportunity. In either case, your brain doesn’t ignore it easily.
When something is fresh and new, your brain gets energized by curiosity. That is heightened alertness of the consciousness. This helps you to remember the things you do in this state of mind.
Infuse the novelty in everything you do. Add more uniqueness and distinctiveness to what you want to be remembered for long.
