John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
John Taylor, Professor of Economics at Stanford University and developer of the "Taylor Rule" for setting interest rates | Stanford University
Why do some words linger in our memory while others disappear? Ada Aka, an assistant professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, is exploring this question. "Words are incredibly powerful. Think about this: they shape how we perceive the world around us, but also how the world stays with us over time," says Aka.
Aka's research focuses on what makes words memorable and their impact on perception and decision-making. Together with her colleagues, she conducted a study involving hundreds of undergraduates who participated in recall and recognition tasks across 25 sessions. The findings indicate that certain words are inherently more memorable than others.
"Certain words are intrinsically more memorable," Aka explains to Matt Abrahams, host of Think Fast, Talk Smart and lecturer at Stanford GSB. Concrete words such as "mountain" are more likely to be remembered than abstract ones. Emotional words related to loss or social connection also tend to stand out, as does informal language like "oops."
The research further investigates how different communication styles affect information retention, including insights from AI-powered large language models (LLMs). Aka's findings suggest a tradeoff: the more conversational an LLM sounds, the less likely people are to remember specific details.
"If you're teaching something quite technical, for example, it's not good to use things like, 'Let me tell you how this works,'" she advises.
Aka's work extends into branding as well. She notes that effective slogans often blend creativity, humor, and psycholinguistic elements like emotionality. "Alignment and fit between a brand’s personality and values – as well as the message that this little multi-phrase or singular sentence slogan gives and how those two fit with one another – seems to be one of the more important factors," she states.
For anyone crafting messages, Aka’s research underscores the importance of word choice in determining whether a message is remembered or forgotten.
This article was initially published by Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Alerts Sign-up