During the Oscar best picture announcement error, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were given the wrong envelope; the moment they should have been discarding it and preparing the next one, the announcer (Cullinan) took a picture and tweeted instead, flooding his working memory and causing the error.

causalpending

Speaker

Richard Cytowic

Evidence Quote

Just as Emma Stone was walking off the stage. Cullinan took a picture and tweeted, and that's the exact moment that he should have been discarding the envelope and lining up the next one. Basically, he flooded his working memory, and that's what led to them announcing the wrong best picture.

Source

Your brain wasn't built to hold this much information | Richard CytowicBig Think
Created: 8/12/2026, 6:39:44 PM

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