How We Remember Stories – and Why It Matters for Marketers
Why do some scenes stay with us, while others fade? Why do we clearly recall the end of a season but forget the moments in between? Storytelling is central to human communication—and new research from the University of Pennsylvania (“Event representation at the scale of ordinary experience” Zacks et al., 2024) offers a fascinating look into how we mentally organize and remember complex narratives.
Using popular TV shows like Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, and The Last of Us, researchers examined how people recall key events from long-form stories. The findings reveal patterns in how memory works—patterns that can shape how marketers structure video content to maximize impact and retention.
How the Brain Stores Narrative
Participants were asked to place key plot events on timelines, revealing four core insights about memory and storytelling:
Event boundaries matter: People confused events more often within the same episode or season than across them. This suggests that memory is organized by narrative units—what researchers call “event segmentation.” The brain naturally chunks content into coherent blocks.
Beginnings and endings stand out: Events at the start and end of episodes or seasons were not only better remembered—they were overrepresented in participants’ mental timelines. This mirrors well-known psychological effects like the “primacy” and “recency” biases.
Temporal detail fades over time: While broader narrative arcs were retained, the specific order of mid-story events blurred. Memory flattens fine-grained structure unless it’s clearly segmented.
Relevance shapes retention: Scenes perceived as central to the story were more likely to be remembered. Whether this is due to content or timing is still being explored—but it reinforces the role of narrative significance in shaping recall.
The Marketing Takeaway: Design for Remembering
These findings aren’t just relevant for screenwriters—they’re crucial for any brand creating video content. Whether you're launching a campaign video, a branded mini-series, or a product demo, how your audience remembers the story determines how they connect, act, and return.
Segment clearly: Use strong scene boundaries and intentional transitions. The brain remembers structured stories—not streams of undifferentiated content.
Front-load and finish strong: Make sure your message lands early and is reinforced at the end. These are the moments your audience is most likely to retain.
Reinforce narrative relevance: Highlight why a scene matters. Emotional resonance, strategic pacing, and visual cues all help imprint the story’s core on your audience’s memory.
Brainsuite: Helping Brands Craft Memorable Content
At Brainsuite, we help brands understand not just what’s in their videos—but how their audience processes them. Our platform analyzes video assets not only in their entirety, but scene by scene, using models trained on how people naturally segment and interpret visual stories.
By identifying critical narrative breaks and cognitive touchpoints, Brainsuite empowers marketing teams to:
Optimize structure and sequencing
Focus attention where it matters
Create content that’s designed to be remembered
Because great content isn’t just seen—it sticks.
Want to learn how neuroscience can help your stories stay top of mind? Explore Brainsuite’s video analysis capabilities
Sources
Zacks, J. M., Kurby, C. A., Eisenberg, M. L., & Swallow, K. M. (2024). Event representation at the scale of ordinary experience. Cognition. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027724001197?via%3Dihub