How memory works

Similarity

Human memory is a complex and varied phenomenon, and we could delve into its mysteries every day for a hundred years and still have plenty to talk about. But if I had to pick one factor that was...

Multitasking

A very common situation today, which is probably responsible for a great deal of modern anxiety about failing memory, is that where we're required to “...

The role of emotion in memory

Does emotion help us remember? That's not an easy question to answer, which is unsurprising when you consider the complexities of emotion. First of all, there are two, quite different,...

Subliminal & sleep learning

Subliminal learning achieved notoriety back in 1957, when James Vicary claimed moviegoers could be induced to buy popcorn and Coca-Cola through the use of messages that flashed on the...

Forgetting a skill or procedure

Have you ever been driving a car and suddenly you’re not sure what to do? You’re traveling along in usual automatic fashion and there comes a...

Singing For Memory

Song is a wonderful way to remember information, although some songs are better than others. Songs that help you remember need to have simple tunes, with a lot of repetition -- although a...

Using the keyword method to learn vocabulary

In the mid-seventies, Raugh and Atkinson had remarkable results using the keyword method to teach Russian vocabulary to college students. While later studies have not tended to find...

Face-name association

Creating a face-name association Select a distinctive feature of the face (nose). Select a word or phrase that sounds like the name (con rat for Conrad). Create an interactive image linking the...

Working Memory and Intelligence

You may have heard of “g”. It’s the closest we’ve come to that elusive attribute known as “intelligence”, but it is in fact a...

Autobiographical memory

Autobiographical memory contains the information you have about yourself. It includes several domains: self-description (the source of a large part of your sense of identity), containing...

Individual differences

Biological clocks and memory

I’ve always been interested in the body’s clocks — and one of the most interesting things is that it is clocks, in the plural. It appears the main clock is located in a part of the...

The question of innate talent

Some personal experience

Gender Differences

Widely cited gender differences in cognition It is clear that there are differences between the genders in terms of cognitive function; it is much less clear that there are differences in...

Right-Brain/Left-Brain

Are you right-brained or left-brained? One of the dumber questions around. I think it’s safe to say that if you only had one hemisphere of your...