Memory Maximizers: December 2021
Prospective Memories Benefit From Predicting Whether You’ll Remember to Take Action
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Predicting the future isn’t easy, but predicting whether you’ll remember to do something may just actually help ensure you recall what you need to do.
It’s that time of year when predictions for the year ahead are everywhere. And while you may not be able to forecast the ups and downs on Wall Street or what movies will win Academy Awards in 2022, making predictions about future tasks and intentions in your own life may keep you from forgetting them. Want to remember to mail an important letter or pick up your clothes at the dry cleaner before it closes? Simply predict whether you will remember to do those tasks. It may sound strange, but asking yourself whether you will remember what you want to remember makes you more likely to recall that particular piece of information. This technique is especially helpful for prospective memories. These are things that you want to do or plan to do in the future. A German study published several years ago found that predicting your performance (e.g., “I will remember to mail that letter!”) actually improves your performance. It’s not clear why making such predictions helps you remember to take action, though researchers suggest that the process may affect the brain in the same way quizzing yourself helps you retain new information. Predictions may help the hippocampus—the brain’s memory center—store those plans for easier access down the road. So, take some time today and throughout the year to predict your own success at conquering your to-do list without missing or forgetting a thing.
Mindfulness Meditation Bolsters Visual Short-term Memory
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Even just a few minutes of mindfulness meditation may help your visual short-term memory and other brain functions.
Just an eight-minute mindfulness meditation session may make a noticeable difference in how well you remember faces and other visual stimuli. A study recently published in Psychological Reports divided up participants into three groups after they completed a facial recognition task on a computer. One group then listened to a book on tape. Another group of volunteers was free to do whatever they wanted to do. And the third group listened to a guided mindfulness meditation. After eight minutes, each group was asked to complete a second facial recognition test. The participants who listened to the mindfulness meditation instructions showed significant improvement in their visual short-term memory compared with the other two groups. Mindfulness meditation is a technique that helps improve a person’s awareness and focus. Mindfulness means paying attention to your surroundings and what you are doing, thinking and feeling, and using all of your senses. A key aspect of mindfulness is that you don’t judge the thoughts and feelings you have, but simply acknowledge them. But how can a few minutes of mindfulness meditation help improve memory? One theory is that mindfulness meditation reduces stress and anxiety, which can easily interfere with focus and short-term memory. In other words, by relaxing and improving your awareness of what’s in front of you at a particular moment, you are harnessing mental resources that might otherwise be spent in unproductive ways.
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