Anticipating your own performance at work or school may hinder your ability to remember what happened before your presentation, a study from the University of Waterloo has found.
The study’s findings also suggest that the presence of an audience may be an important factor that contributes to this pre-performance memory deficit.
“Performance anticipation could weaken memory because people tend to focus on the details of their upcoming presentation instead of paying attention to information that occurs before their performance,” says lead author Noah Forrin, a postdoctoral fellow in Psychology at Waterloo. “People who experience performance anxiety may be particularly likely to experience this phenomenon.”
Read the complete article from University of Waterloo here: Anticipating performance can hinder memoryThe full text journal article from the Journal of Memory and Language can be found here: Wait for it… performance anticipation reduces recognition memory
A new font can help lodge information deeper in your brain, researchers say, but it’s not magic — just the science of effort.
Psychology and design researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne created a font called Sans Forgetica, which was designed to boost information retention for readers. It’s based on a theory called “desirable difficulty,” which suggests that people remember things better when their brains have to overcome minor obstacles while processing information. Sans Forgetica is sleek and back-slanted with intermittent gaps in each letter, which serve as a “simple puzzle” for the reader, according to Stephen Banham, a designer and RMIT lecturer who helped create the font.
“It should be difficult to read but not too difficult,” Banham said. “In demanding this additional act, memory is more likely to be triggered.”
Read the complete article from RMIT University here: Sans Forgetica: new typeface designed to help students study
You can view an RMIT's interactive website about the font here: Sans Forgetica
The next time you hear about the possibility of rain on the weather forecast, try imagining the umbrella tip being lodged in your home’s door lock, blocking you from locking it. This mental exercise could prevent you from leaving home without an umbrella.
Imagining an action between two objects (the umbrella being lodged in the door lock) and a potential consequence (not being able to lock the door) may help people improve their memory for relationships with other objects, according to a recent Baycrest Health Sciences study published in the Memory & Cognition journal.
Read the complete article from Baycrest Health Sciences here: Baycrest researchers find that imagining an action-consequence relationship can improve memory
Learning by taking practice tests, a strategy known as retrieval practice, can protect memory against the negative effects of stress, report scientists from Tufts University in a new study published in Science on Nov. 25.
In experiments involving 120 student participants, individuals who learned a series of words and images by retrieval practice showed no impairment in memory after experiencing acute stress. Participants who used study practice, the conventional method of re-reading material to memorize it, remembered fewer items overall, particularly after stress.
Read the complete article and see a video from Tufts University here: Practice testing protects memory against stress
New research questions the strong claims that have been made about the benefits of ‘brain training’ – enhanced mental skills, a boost to education, improved clinical outcomes and sharper everyday functioning. This new study found evidence that ‘brain training’ changed brain signalling but no indication of other benefits.
The study published by Dr Duncan Astle and colleagues from the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in the Journal of Neuroscience tested whether it is possible to improve memory skills in childhood with training. “Given the bold claims you might think that so-called brain training has the potential to enhance almost every aspect of our daily lives. But we know surprisingly little about whether it is really effective, and much less about how it actually alters brain function.”
Read the complete article from UK's Medical Research Council here: Evidence of changes to children's brain rhythms following 'brain training'
Learning new information is hard, as any student can attest. Repeating new information aloud can improve a person's ability to remember it later, and a new study in the journal Consciousness and Cognition shows that repeating this information aloud to another person boosts this even further.
Scientists at the University of Montreal asked 44 French-speaking students to read a series of words on a screen while wearing headphones emitting white noise to eliminate any exterior sounds. The students were randomized to one of four conditions: repeating in their head, repeating silently while moving their lips, repeating aloud while looking at the screen, and finally, repeating aloud while addressing someone. After a short break, the students were then asked to remember which words they had read. Repeating the words in the presence of someone else showed the highest effect on memory, even though the students couldn't hear what they were saying. The researchers believe that the social context helps improve recall of words.
Read the complete article from the University of Montreal here: Repeating aloud to another person boosts recall
In our world of branding and repetitive advertising, it is feasible that we dutifully soak up visuals and messages and store them accurately in our mind’s eye. New research published in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology tests this theory by examining our memory of the ubiquitous Apple logo and our perceived ability for recall. Blake, Castel and Nazarian ask ‘are we really paying attention?’ Their experiment reveals some surprising insights.
Read the complete article from Taylor & Francis Group (and find a link to the full text journal article) here: Apple of the mind’s eye
In a new study, published today in the journal Legal and Criminology Psychology, researchers from the University of Surrey have found further evidence to suggest that eyewitnesses to crimes remember more accurate details when they close their eyes. The team also discovered that building a rapport with witnesses helped them to remember more.
Read the complete article from the University of Surrey here: New Study Finds That Closing Your Eyes Boosts Memory Recall
Think about your fifth-birthday party. Maybe your mom carried the cake. What did her face look like? If you have a hard time imagining the way she looked then rather than how she looks now, you're not alone.
The brain edits memories relentlessly, updating the past with new information. Scientists say that this isn't a question of having a bad memory. Instead, they think the brain updates memories to make them more relevant and useful now — even if they're not a true representation of the past.
Read the complete article from NPR here: Our Brains Rewrite Our Memories, Putting Present In The Past
