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Poopy Nintendo Mystery SOLVED WITH SCIENCE

2010-06-30 · explainer · John · 3:38 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature (also: Personal life) · mode: Explainer · tags: community lore, self correction

Using Neisser and Harsch's Challenger flashbulb-memory study, John argues that vivid memories are often false, concedes his memory of the family dog's poop in the Nintendo may be invented, and apologizes to Hank and the dog.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Outside with Willy; Hank's Phineas Gage video made John think about brains; zombie gag; he will solve the mystery of the poopy Nintendo

  • ★★ Hank's Phineas Gage video made John think about the human brain; he loves brains and all the crazy, wonderful things they can do. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John sets out to use his knowledge of brains to definitively solve the mystery of the poopy Nintendo. (playful) — 00:00:00

00:00:30 — Neisser and Harsch's Challenger flashbulb-memory study: the 1986 disaster, one person's two incompatible stories, confident but wrong recollections

  • ★★ John introduces Neisser and Harsch's late-1980s work on flashbulb memories, the famous classic 1989 Challenger flashbulb memory study. — 00:00:30
  • ★★ In 1986 the space shuttle Challenger blew up on launch, killing everyone aboard including teacher Christa McAuliffe, as millions of American schoolchildren watched. — 00:00:30
  • ★★ The Challenger explosion is one of those moments when everyone knows what they were doing and who they were with when they heard the news. — 00:00:59
  • ★★★ John reads two accounts of hearing the news, in a dorm watching TV and in religion class: one participant wrote the religion-class one the day after and the TV one, with total confidence, three and a half years later. — 00:01:28
  • ★★★ Almost everyone in the study remembered three years later who they were with and how they heard, yet the vast majority were wrong. — 00:01:28

00:01:58 — Memory vividness doesn't track truth; brains store narratives; John's vivid memory of Red Green's poop in the Nintendo that only he saw

  • ★★★ There is very little correlation between how well you remember something and whether it happened: the brain stores narrative memories, not accurate ones. — 00:01:58
  • ★ John says he wrote a book about this (title not given). — 00:01:58
  • ★★★ John has an extremely vivid flashbulb memory of discovering Red Green's poop in the Nintendo, but research suggests he was the only one who physically saw it. (hedged) — 00:01:58

00:02:27 — John the childhood liar may have invented the poop; apologies to Hank and the late Red Green; Willy's forgiveness; see you Friday

  • ★★ John acknowledges he was an inveterate liar as a child, as opposed to now, when he is a novelist. (playful) — 00:02:27
  • ★★★ John concedes he may have invented the poop in the Nintendo and come to believe it, blaming a deceased miniature dachshund and Hank for poop that never existed. (hedged) — 00:02:27
  • ★★★ John apologizes to Hank and to Red Green, saying his broken brain might have created an incorrect flashbulb memory. (hedged) — 00:02:53
  • ★ Unable to apologize to the dead Red Green, John asks Willy's forgiveness on behalf of all canine kind and is licked. (playful) — 00:02:53 · Willy

Humor (significant)

  • John says he is like a zombie in two respects; first, he loves brains. — 00:00:00

    “Two, on some fundamental level, I pretty much just walk around doing whatever I need to do in order to keep walking around.”

  • John admits he was an inveterate liar as a child. — 00:02:27

    “As opposed to now, when I am a novelist.”

  • John wants to apologize to Red Green for besmirching his name. — 00:02:53

    “But I can't apologize to him, Hank, because he's dead.”

  • John begs Willy to forgive his incorrect flashbulb memory on behalf of all dogs. — 00:03:21

    “Hank, I feel the tongue of forgiveness on my cheek.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: flashbulb memory · Neisser and Harsch's Challenger flashbulb memory study · Nicole Harsch · Nintendo Entertainment System · Red · Ulric Neisser

Also: Christa McAuliffe · Phineas Gage (historical) · Space Shuttle Challenger disaster · Willy · zombie

Only in the description or credits: Affect and Accuracy in Recall: Studies of "Flashbulb" Memories

Also centred on Nintendo Entertainment System: GIGANTIC CHICKEN EGG!! · The Case of the Poopy Nintendo

Also centred on Red: GIGANTIC CHICKEN EGG!! · The Case of the Poopy Nintendo

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