It’s Halloween season, which means time to tell some spooky stories! Why can these stories be so much easier to remember than other types of stories?
There is a long history of using spooky stories to pass along important messages. Fairytales and folklore often serve this purpose. Those types of stories also are often somewhat scary. There is often some type of danger lurking.
It turns out that’s probably for a reason: The story is probably remembered better because it’s a bit scary.
Emotion, including fear, grabs our attention. We might fall asleep during some bedtime stories, but probably not when a scary story is being told. We’ll stay alert, and focused on the story, and this helps us to remember it.
The emotion circuits in the brain help memories stick. When parts of the brain that process emotion, such as a region called the amygdala, are activated, this can strengthen memory.
Scary stories are often surprising, and unusual, and this can also make information more memorable.