Remember Me? A Field Study on Memory Biases in Academia

Are some people more memorable than others? We conduct an experiment in a real work setting - academia. A month after two international conferences, participants are asked to recall presenters' names, institutions and the papers they presented. We find that people recall distinctive 'minority' attributes of presenters (such as being female or non-white) and better recall identities of ethnic minorities. In contrast, academic achievements have little explanatory power on the probability of being remembered. These findings provide evidence for a potential value of standing out and have implications for our understanding of the formation of professional networks.