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Good-Looking People Can Impact One's Memory

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The physical attractiveness of others can have an impact on memory loss, according to a recent study NBC News reported.

A study at Texas Christian University found that the way people tailor their experiences and opinions to match their dates, or someone who is good-looking, can muddle their ability to recall the truth.

Charles Lord, professor of psychology at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, found that attractiveness can have an impact on how much people lie and the extent in which they believe those lies.

"What we know is that people will embellish or distort facts when telling stories, which causes them to oftentimes remember the lies more so than the truth," Lord said in a statement. "Research has also showed us that people tell others what they want to hear. In this case, Harry will lie to impress Sally, and he is also more likely to fool himself into believing the lie."

Respondents were then led to believe they would be meeting a member of the opposite sex. They also were shown a photo of this person and asked to report on a 1-7 scale if they found their partner "physically attractive and wanted to get along with and make a good impression on this partner."

A few weeks after taking an opinion poll, participants tweaked their responses to the same questions when they found out a good-looking person would disagree with their original stance, according to NBC News. 

After learning the meeting was fictitious and the whole thing was an experiment, the poll-takers could not accurately remember their original answers.

The poll-takers were then asked to complete a profile to be sent to their partner before an in-person meeting answering the same question about "comprehensive mandatory exams."

Researchers found there was a correlation between the attractiveness of the partner and those warming to the idea of "comprehensive mandatory exams.

"Participants with relatively attractive potential partners remembered giving more positive initial survey responses than participants with relatively unattractive potential partners," said Lord.

The study's coauthor Sara E. Brady said when someone lies to impress a potential partner, their dishonesty confuses the memory. The more someone lies, the more their brain will start accepting the lie as fact.

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