Description: Quick! Which of these is easier to remember: a song you heard last week and really liked or what you had for lunch last Tuesday? Unless the lunch was particularly good or unique or special it is most likely you would remember the song and if you think about it you agree with that… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Memory
Psychological Drivers of Misinformation Belief: A Not So New But Critical Topic
Description: Given our direct and media shared experiences surrounding recent events such as the COVID pandemic, American elections and related capital events, climate change and much else you cannot be unaware of the phenomenon of misinformation and related beliefs. You may be aware of concerns over social media “echo chambers” that become sole sources for… Read more »
Stuff to Remember? Sleep On It!
Description: Decades ago, when I was in grade 7, we had grade-wide exams in a number of subjects. I was particular keen to do well on the science exam. One of the topic areas on the exam was the periodic table and I set out to memorize the names, symbols and atomic numbers of all… Read more »
A Neural Mechanism of Advanced Cognition
Description: Research into what happens in your brain when you try and memorize a new fact or procedure has traditionally focused upon the activity or the firing of individual neurons. One event that has been hard to explain using single neuron theories involves what happens when you teach someone a strategy or a mnemonic for… Read more »
Getting Lost While Grocery Shopping
Description: The two (same chain) large grocery stores near my neighbourhood have been undergoing renovations over the past 2 months. In both cases this has involved changes in the layout of each store and the relocation of where particular things can be found. I used to know both of these stores well. I could easily… Read more »
Towards More Effective Management of Eyewitness Testimony
Description: Consider the best (fairest and most accurate) way to gather information from eyewitnesses. Specifically, think about the standard police procedure of using line-ups in which, usually, 6 individuals are lined up on the other side of a one way window or 6 photos are gathered together and possible witnesses to a crime are asked… Read more »
When or How Might Mis-remembering be Good?
Description: Imagine you are chatting with one of your grandparents about a trip you took with them last summer and you are reminiscing about a stop you made at a bakery, and they are saying they still remember the taste of the peanut butter cookie they had while you were there. In thinking about that… Read more »
When is Forgetting a Good Thing?
Description: This may seem like an odd question but what comes to mind when you think about forgetting? I suspect that most of what comes to mind as you ponder on forgetting is negative: things or events you forgot, concerns over loss of memory with age or loss of memory due to accident or illness… Read more »
Block Trauma with Tetris?
Description: What is trauma, do you have a working definition? It is a possible consequence of having experienced a traumatic event which could be almost anything from a car crash to being in a military conflict zone. It can lead to symptoms of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). So, yes, I bet you have a… Read more »
Associative Memory: Sniff it Out!
Description: I know the answer to this question is yes but consider it anyway. Have you ever run into a smell that immediately took you back into your memory to another time or place? Maybe it was the lovely smells coming out a bakery that remained you of your grandmother’s kitchen or perhaps the smell… Read more »
Books for Success!
