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Stories, Statistics, and Memory

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  • Graeber, Thomas
  • Roth, Christopher
  • Zimmermann, Florian

Abstract

For most decisions, we rely on information encountered over the course of days, months or years. We consume this information in various forms, including abstract summaries of multiple data points -- statistics -- and contextualized anecdotes about individual instances -- stories. This paper proposes that we do not always have access to the full wealth of our accumulated information, and that the information type -- story versus statistic -- is a central determinant of selective memory. In controlled experiments we show that the effect of information on beliefs decays rapidly and exhibits a pronounced story-statistic gap: the average impact of stories on beliefs fades by 33% over the course of a day, but by 73% for statistics. Consistent with a model of similarity and interference in memory, prompting contextual associations with statistics improves recall. A series of mechanism experiments highlights that the lower similarity of stories to interfering information is the key driving force behind the story-statistic gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Graeber, Thomas & Roth, Christopher & Zimmermann, Florian, 2022. "Stories, Statistics, and Memory," CEPR Discussion Papers 17683, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:17683
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    2. Roth, Christopher & Schwardmann, Peter & Tripodi, Egon, 2024. "Misperceived effectiveness and the demand for psychotherapy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    3. Ahmed, Haseeb & Giffin, Erin & Manian, Shanthi, 2025. "Memory constraints in adoption of productive technologies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    4. Robin Musolff & Florian Zimmermann, 2025. "Model Uncertainty," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_697, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    5. Enke, Benjamin & Schwerter, Frederik & Zimmermann, Florian, 2024. "Associative memory, beliefs and market interactions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Benjamin Christoffersen & Arvid Hoffmann & Zwetelina Iliewa & Lena Jaroszek, 2025. "Experience Effects on Wall Street vs. Main Street: Field and Lab Evidence of Context Dependence," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_684, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    7. Marta Serra-Garcia, 2025. "The Attention–Information Tradeoff," CESifo Working Paper Series 11885, CESifo.
    8. Bocar A. Ba & Abdoulaye Ndiaye & Roman Rivera & Alexander Whitefield, 2024. "Mispricing Narratives after Social Unrest," NBER Working Papers 32730, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. George Loewenstein & Zachary Wojtowicz, 2023. "The Economics of Attention," CESifo Working Paper Series 10712, CESifo.
    10. Qiang Chen & Tianyang Han & Jin Li & Ye Luo & Zigan Wang & Yuxiao Wu & Xiaowei Zhang & Tuo Zhou, 2025. "Can AI Master Econometrics? Evidence from Econometrics AI Agent on Expert-Level Tasks," Papers 2506.00856, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2026.
    11. Ge, Erqi, 2025. "Political speeches and stock market performance: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    12. Andrea Amelio & Florian Zimmermann, 2023. "Motivated Memory in Economics—A Review," Games, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, January.
    13. Angelico, Cristina, 2024. "The green transition and firms' expectations on future prices: Survey evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 519-543.
    14. Burdin, Gabriel & Landini, Fabio, 2025. "Beliefs and the Demand for Employee Ownership," IZA Discussion Papers 18196, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Mo, Zhexun & Kaeppel, Katharina & Schröder, Carsten & Yang, Li, 2025. "When Facts Fail: Experimental Evidence on Perceptions and Preferences towards Chinese Investments in Germany," SocArXiv 74k3v_v1, Center for Open Science.
    16. Francesco Bilotta & Alberto Binetti & Giacomo Manferdini, 2025. "Blameocracy: Causal Rhetoric in Politics," Papers 2504.06550, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2025.

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