We need a new expression for things that are surprising, apart from the complexity of life forms, which simply cannot have arisen from Darwinism acting on randomness. But around here it is okay to scoff at that stuff anyhow.
Meanwhile:
Contrary to previous assumptions, visual short-term memory is not merely based on one kind of information about an object, such as only its colour or only its name. Rather, several types of information can be retained simultaneously in short-term memory. Using complex EEG analyses and deep neural networks, researchers at Beijing Normal University and Ruhr-Universität Bochum have discovered that short-term memory is more complex than previously assumed…
Based on this result, the team then showed that objects are not only represented in one form in short-term memory, as previously assumed, but in several forms simultaneously. When looking at them, initially simple properties of the banana are processed, then complex properties are added. During the memorisation phase, simple and complex information is retained together. The visual short-term memory is thus more complex than has long been assumed.
Ruhr-University Bochum, “Visual short-term memory is more complex than previously assumed” at ScienceDaily
Paper. (paywall)
Good heavens, why should this be surprising? Everyone who deals systematically with learning, from teachers to salesmen to preachers to propagandists, knows that complex concepts need to be glued onto simple visual images for easy recall. That’s the basis of writing, from ideograms to words to emoji. If the gluing doesn’t happen in the hippocampus, where else would it happen? It takes at least a week for memories to filter into the cortex and form more widespread associations.
(Maybe we need another word for things that SHOULDN’T be surprising at all. Fake surprise has always been the main currency of media, ever since the first newspaper was printed.)
Pol @ 1: Agreed, surely rather than surprise, the default assumption should be that, when something goes into short-term memory, the subconscious pulls up relevant info to go with it, so that, when you need the fuller picture, there it is in cache memory!