memory

Using what cognitive psychologists are discovering in the laboratory to improve learning in the classroom is the goal of a $6.47 million collaborative activity grant to Washington University from the James S. McDonnell Foundation.

Using what cognitive psychologists are discovering in the laboratory to improve learning in the classroom is the goal of a $6.47 million collaborative activity grant to Washington University from the James S. McDonnell Foundation.

Learning something once — like the fact that berg means mountain in German — and studying it over and over again may do little to help you remember it in the future. The key to future recall, suggests a new WUSTL study, is how often over time you actively practice retrieving that information from memory.

Learning something once — like the fact that berg means mountain in German — and studying it over and over again may do little to help you remember it in the future. The key to future recall, suggests a new study from Washington University, is how often over time you actively practice retrieving that information from memory.

Learning something once, like the fact that “berg” means “mountain” in German, and studying it over and over again may do little to help you remember it in the future. The key to future recall, suggests a new study from Washington University in St. Louis, is how often over time you actively practice retrieving that information from memory.

Discussions of memory lapses often focus on a failure to recall past events, but equally important to our daily lives is a form of memory that helps us remember to do something in the future — drop a child at daycare, go to the dentist or pick up bread on the way home. “Memory is fallible, even for tasks that are very important,” suggests WUSTL psychologist Mark A. McDaniel, Ph.D., co-author of a new book exploring how the brain processes memories critical to planning and other forward-looking activities. “As soon as intention leaves awareness, there’s no guarantee that it’s going to be retrieved again.” More…

Comparing images of brain activity in response to the “self-remember,” left, and “self-future” event cues, researchers found a surprisingly complete overlap among regions of the brain used.Using brain imaging, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have identified several brain regions that are involved in the uniquely human ability to envision future events. The study, to be published in the journal PNAS, provides evidence that memory and future thought are highly interrelated and helps explain why future thought may be impossible without memories. Findings suggest that envisioning the future may be a critical prerequisite for many higher-level planning processes.

How would you remember this strange image?A psychologist at Washington University in St. Louis is shedding new light on strategies people use to learn and then remember images, showing that some techniques are more effective than others. Brenda Kirchoff, Ph.D., WUSTL research associate in psychology in Arts & Sciences, used functional magnetic reasonance imaging to identify four major learning and memory strategies that range from visual to verbal, each relying on different parts of the brain. The findings eventually may help provide behavioral modification treatments for individuals with memory impairment, including adults afflicted with age-related memory loss and early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Unraveling the mysteries of the human brain, and the mind it gives rise to, is within the reach of modern science, suggests a forthcoming issue of the journal Neuroscience. The special issue explores how sophisticated working memory processes — from the firing of a single neuron to the activation of multiple brain regions — help shape our understanding of the world, says issue co-editor Grega Repovs, a visiting post-doctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis.

Older folks can be swayed by the power of suggestion.Especially if you’re older, get everything in writing, from estimates to receipts. Psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis report that the memory function of people in their mid-60s and up is easily swayed by the power of suggestion, making them more vulnerable to memory-related scams. Their study appears in the May 2005 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology (JEP): General, which is published by the American Psychological Association.