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Show I Why We Remember What We Never Thought We Heard ALTHOUGH the term primary memory may be new to most of us it Is a phenomenon which we have all experienced and which frequently is of the greatest service to us It is a thing which Psychologists have carefully studied and about which they have learned much of nterest , Have you ever been Interested in a book and then tad your wife- speak to you and not notice her? Of course you have But also on some of these occasions your wife has wound up sharply with jour name ) That makes you take notice and scurry back into the mental atmosphere for what she has been saying and usually you find it kow when the words were spoken jou paid no at tention whatsoever and If it had not been for that Imperative calling of your name they would have escaped your mind forever The vords seem ngly made no impression at the time of their being enun ; elated but when your attention was called by the sound o your name what psychologists call primary memory- stepped in and aided you It seems as if some kind of mechanical Impression must ha e been made on your sense of hearing in order for jou to be I ble to recall your wife s words I Science tells us that this primary memory effect is I "othlng but an auditory afterimage There .rs several kinds of afterimages One is known as the kinaesthetic You experience this when you have taken off a tight hat and laid it on the table In a moment you may reach up to take the hat aga n tnlnking that it is still on your heaa This Is merely an afterimage for It is on the table ana not on your head Visual after images are quite common If you hap pen to look at a bright light and then at a white wall you see a black image of the light on thewall This image as you close and open your eyes gradually changes color ti 1 it d sappears An easier test is to look at a green spot on a piece of white paper and then at a blank piece ofwhlte paper A red spot will now be seen similar in shape and size to the green spot The explanation is that when looking at the green spot the green perceiving elements of the eye became fatigued on that part of the retina where the image fell Now on looking at a piece of white paper which of course needs all the color perceiving elements of the eye for wh te contains all colors the green per celvers on the place n the retina do not act as well as the others So the complement of green is seen For this very reason of fat gue a vhite house s not as white to you after looking at t a wh le 'for now all the perceiving elements are fatigued and do not act as stronglyjas before- |