Let’s do a mental exercise. Let’s imagine that someone leaves the following shopping list written: potatoes, tuna, lettuce, tomatoes, , chicken breasts, cookies and salt. We let half an hour go by. What is more likely to be remembered?

The most likely is “bank robbery” since it is not an object, it is highlighted in capital letters and in bold letters and it stands out for being much more unsettling than a normal shopping list would be.

The von Restorff effect is a phenomenon that occurs when a certain element or data stands out from those around it, receiving greater prominence and, in turn, being easier to remember later. Let’s see more in depth what it consists of.

The von Restorff effect: what is it?

The von Restorff effect, also called the isolation effect, is basically the phenomenon that occurs when there are more possibilities of remembering one or several elements that stand out in comparison with others with which they are grouped .

This effect was first described by the German psychiatrist and pediatrician Hedwig von Restorff (1906-1962), who in 1933 determined that it was more likely to remember elements that stand out because of characteristics such as color, shape, and falling out of the semantic group…

Until then, it was thought that remembering something that simply stood out was because of how human attention works. It was held that what attracted attention simply took on a more prominent role. However, based on what von Restorff saw in the 1930s, this greater prominence also has to do with how human memory works when encoding information that is different from that around it.

Actually, this conclusion was not explained by Hedwig von Restorff at the time, although it laid the basis for the conclusion reached in 1995 by researchers Emanuel Donchin and Monica Fabiani that memory encodes information of different kinds in different ways .

Going back to the case of the list mentioned at the beginning. When we are given such a list, what we expect is to find ordinary shopping products, which could be found under the semantic label ‘shopping list’. If an item is entered in that list that is outside the semantic label, it is more likely that we will notice this item, and it will be more easily remembered in the long run.

Explanations for this phenomenon

There are different hypotheses that have tried to explain why the elements that are isolated or different from the rest of the group with which they are presented should be better agreed upon. One of the explanations behind this is that the working memory stores those different elements for a longer period of time, in case they are of interest later on due to their peculiarity.

Another approach argues that one of the reasons isolated elements are best remembered is that, because they come from another group or label, whether semantic, morphological or otherwise, they are remembered as a separate group, smaller than the group of elements with which they have been presented, being easier to remember afterwards .

It is currently argued that since these elements, whether verbal, visual or of any other kind, are incongruous with the rest of the elements with which they are presented , they are given different attention and, in turn, are remembered in a different way.

Applications in daily life

Leaving aside the theoretical explanations behind von Restorff’s effect, let’s see some utilities that this phenomenon has in everyday life , which can be a great advantage especially in areas such as study, work or marketing.

1. Studio

While many students may not be aware of this effect or know how to call it by name, it is something they live with, especially during exam periods.

When you are reading a study book it is very common for the most important information to be explained differently from the rest of the page , for example in the form of a coloured box, underlined or in bold.

In this way, it focuses special attention on those elements, besides making it easier to remember them.

But it is not only the books and those who make them that make use of von Restorff’s effect on their own. The students, by underlining the information or elaborating it in the form of separate diagrams already make sure to make it stand out .

Thus, by transforming information from written form to visual form it is better remembered, since it acquires a greater prominence when compared to the hundreds of lines of text from which it has been extracted.

2. Work environment

While this is also related to the previous point, this effect can be a great ally in the workplace, especially in terms of job presentations.

When developing the presentation slides, you can incorporate elements that will attract the attention of the audience . Some of these can be titles of different colours, striking images, sounds, video clips…

Everything that is out of the ordinary allows the public to receive a greater impression of what they are seeing, remembering it later.

This can also make the presentation more enjoyable, preventing the presenter from feeling that the audience is bored and more nervous than they are.

3. Marketing

Finally, we’ll look at the benefits and uses of the von Restorff effect in marketing, which are used constantly and are not very difficult to understand.

When we go into a shop, for example, all the signs that say ‘SALES’, almost always in bright colours and in capital letters, are clearly making use of this very useful effect.

Also, in TV ads, when the ad uses bright colors, letters that change size and color, noises and loud music , among others, it is a way to get the consumer’s attention and that, when going to the supermarket, he remembers the product.

But sometimes these strategies are not as useful as you might think, especially if everyone uses the same thing to get the consumer’s attention. As everything is the same, the consumer does not remember a specific brand.

This is why, from time to time, some brands change their strategy and, taking advantage of what the others do not do in their ads and commercial claims, they attract the attention of the consumer.

A few years ago, a car brand made an ad that was practically silent. As at that time most ads, especially car ads, incorporated action music, the brand that did not use this strategy was more remembered.

Bibliographic references:

  • Kelley, M. R. & Nairme, J. S. (2001) von Restorff Revisited: Isolation, generation and memory for order. Journal of Experimental Psychology; 27(1): 54-66.
  • Fabiani, M. & Donchin, E. (1995) Encoding Processes and Memory Organization: A Model of the von Restorff Effect, Journal of Experimental Psychology; 21(1): 224-240.
  • Gumenik, W. E. & Levitt, J. (1968) The Von Restorff Effect as a Function of Difference of the Isolated Item. The American Journal of Psychology; 81(2): 247-252.
  • Green, R.T. (1956) Surprise as a factor in the von Restorff effect, Journal of Experimental Psychology; 52(5): 340-344.