Memory and recall is a big deal in improv! This week I have a bit of science about what is easier and harder to remember when it comes to how details are positioned in an event. And I’ll suggest some ways to practice your memory and recall for a future set.
One Thing to Try: Remembering Stuff
There is a lot of science around memory and recall. And it, of course, heavily relates to our improv practice. One piece of science I ran across recently was regarding when we remember things best during a single event. For example, do we remember the beginning of a meal better, the middle, or the end.
Neuroscience indicates that detail ordering impacts memory. For example, details of the beginning and end of a meal are easier to remember than a detail in the middle.
To read a bit more about why ordering matters, here are a few resources about memory to get your started:
- Primary effect, Primacy bias, and Recency bias are part of the Peak-End Rule and Serial position effect.
- You can also refer to Paul Rozin, who has done related studies to memory and positioning, often involved with food. Here’s one video on this particular topic.
One thing to try on your own
While you are having a discussion this week (it could be with yourself, even!) or watching a movie: try noting a detail from near the beginning, middle and end of the event/show/discussion. Try to notice the kind of detail you would typically want to remember during an improv set. Maybe a character name, an unusual detail, or a phrase you would want to call back.
A few hours later, or following day, try to recall those three details and ask yourself the following:
- WHAT was easiest and hardest to recall: the first, second, or final detail.
- HOW did you recall these details? For example: Visual or personal association, the storytelling, a trick, repetition… or nothing at all? And so on.
- Did anything in particular cause you to choose certain details (ie: emotion? curiosity?)
I reckon you’ll have a guess for how this exercise will go prior to doing it. Or at least an idea about how you tend to recall specific details in improv (and life).
But still, notice which details were easier or harder remember. Does is “rule” hold true for you improv or not? Is it consistent? And also notice what makes that memory easiest for you to hold – the visual cue, the storytelling (easiest typically to use for memory), or some trick you use.
Related to the example above, food itself is used as a memory device! Perhaps you use that during scenes too with the suggestion of a type of food during a scene leading to flash memory of a lived experience.
Memory and recall will shift as you evolve in improv. But it’s still useful to check in with the basics, and understand how your brain works in these scenarios.
Because if you understand HOW you recall information, and understand when it’s easier or harder for you, you can focus on how you want to grow in improv or new things to try.
Want to share what you notice? Let me know (reply or contact here) and I’ll share it in a future newsletter. Or reply on the site with a comment!
Discuss this topic with improvisers
This link will take you directly to the forum for this newsletter on the Improv Update Discord.The discord also contains a bunch of channels for improv nerds. Nice.
Improv resources, podcasts & shows
Some new improv and comedy things to check out this week from the online space. Everything is free and accessible to you, right now!
- Article 1: Impedance Matching improves comedy performance (Neurodiversity in Improv) [Read Article]
- Animated partially improvised comedy series: Unfuck Your Life: Animated (Episode 2)
Improv & Comedy Livestreams
Comedy and improv livestreams that I think look pretty cool that happen to be coming up soon or available right now (no affiliation):
- Jan 10th: Ultimate Improv Show with Lauren Lapkus, Nicole Byer, Dan Black, Bobby Moynihan, Neil Casey, Jon Gabrus[Get Livestream]
- Jan 14th: Comedian Traitors[Get Livestream]
- Feb 11th: Katie & Erika Throw The Perfect Valentine’s Day Party[Get Livestream]
Do you have a stage show that’s livestreamed and want it added? Or a FREE jam or workshop I should add? Reach out or comment on the website for the next newsletter (every two weeks).
Fact or Word of the Week
As per usual, here’s yet another fact or word of the week…. this week we have a fact. Heck yeah, FACTS RULE!
FACT(s): The Egyptians invented toothpaste around 5,000 BC. Way before toothbrushes, which emerged around 3000 BC. The first commercially available toothpaste? Colgate, 1873.
Do you have a cool fact or word I should add to this section? I know you do. Let us know in the comments for this post! (Click the button above or below)
That’s it, improvisers!
A real human makes these things. It’s getting more and more difficult to find real human creations online, here are some things that are. Support human made stuff!
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my warmest of regards and salutations from my cold, damp and lonely forest cavern bunker forest dwelling house,
Jen deHaan
ImprovUpdate.com | NeurodiversityImprov.com | StereoForest.com
BONUS SONG SHARE: Light Up the Skyby Phillip-Michael Scales. What are you listening to?
