Pre-lecture diagrams help students take better notes, learn more
Lecture-based learning can be challenging for students who have difficulties building mental models for the organization of new information, but providing them with diagrams and other supporting material in advance of the lecture can help them overcome these hurdles, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.
Most American presidents destined to fade from nation’s memory, study suggests
American presidents spend their time in office trying
to carve out a prominent place in the nation’s collective memory, but
most are destined to be forgotten within 50-to-100 years of their
serving as president, suggests a study on presidential name recall
released Nov. 27 by the journal Science.
Expecting to teach enhances learning, recall
People learn better and recall more when given the impression that they will soon have to teach newly acquired material to someone else, suggests new research from the Department of Psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
Faulty memory finds a new culprit
Memory problems related to day-to-day activities — one of the largest complaints of people with Alzheimer’s diease — may be due to older adults’ inability to segment their daily lives into discrete experiences, suggests new psychology research from Washington University in St. Louis. How we perceive events in our current lives influences how we remember them in the future, the study finds.
Online test estimates ‘Face-Name Memory IQ’
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are
inviting the world to take part in an online experiment that will allow
participants to see how their individual scores on a face-name memory
test compare with those of other test takers.
Search engine pioneer speaks at Olin
Before Google became a household word, engineers like Anna Patterson (EN ’87, EN ’87) were figuring out how to search the Internet and find the most relevant answers to random queries. The director of Google Research returns to campus at 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, as guest speaker co-sponsored by Olin Business School and the School of Engineering & Applied Science. She will talk about her experience in Silicon Valley as an entrepreneur and member of the Google team.
Memory links to 40 winks
When it comes to executing items on tomorrow’s to-do list, it’s best to think it over, then “sleep on it,” say psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis. The researchers have shown that sleep enhances our ability to remember to do something in the future, a skill known as prospective memory.
Cell phone ringtones can pose major distraction, impair recall
A flurry of recent research has documented that talking on a cell phone poses a dangerous distraction for drivers and others whose attention should be focused elsewhere. Now, a new study in the Journal of Environmental Psychology finds that just the ring of a cell phone may be equally distracting, especially when it comes in a classroom setting or includes a familiar song as a ringtone.
Product recalls need not be a company’s downfall
Mattel and Ford are just the latest in a long line of companies to enact a product recall. Whether it’s lead paint or tainted dog food, every manufacturer faces the potential that its product needs to be taken off the shelf. How a firm handles its logistics and marketing after and before a recall can make or break a company’s success in the long run.
False memories, failing recall are not an inevitable consequence of aging, research suggests
The human brainThe failing memories of older adults, including their tendency to remember things that never happened, are not an inevitable consequence of aging, according to Washington University research presented Aug. 8 at the American Psychological Association meeting in Toronto. The study offers evidence that false memories and other cognitive declines often associated with normal aging can be more directly linked to measurable declines in executive control functions in frontal brain lobes.