Hey, my name is Joseph Delaney and I am majoring in Psychology at Seattle University. welcome to my page! Let's get started.
Memory is often described as an ability which we can harness and improve, but is this really true? Here we will explore the validity of the popular belief that "memory is like a muscle and can benefit from/be strengthened through exercise."
First of all I have examined a couple of different interpretations for this myth.
Next, I have provided a small list of resources to help you get started here: Readings
Sunday, May 16, 2010
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Love your title! "Mental weight lifting" is a great analogy for your topic, brings a lot of images of college life and studying. I'm curious about the types of exercises for strengthening memory you may come across! -MS
ReplyDeleteIt is smart that you didn't dismiss the idea as a myth from the beginning. I assume that this idea may contain "a grain of truth" as long as certain qualifications are provided. I look forward to how you accurately separate what is true from what is not.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I do know that Japanese game wouldn't work..., so I hope somebody will come up with a new game for mental weight lifting again!!
And I really thought Brain Age would work. From experience, I've noticed that when I work to improve my "brain age", the more I play the game, the worse I become at the game. I feel that if I play the game too many times, it worsens my ability to play. Is my mind in a sense becoming fatigued by the constant struggle to improve my score? Since then I've stopped playing Brain Age. But I'm interested to see what kind of data you'll find that will either support or debunk this myth.
ReplyDeleteHere is an article that might be helpful - it discusses a memory training intervention for "old-old adults":
ReplyDeleteBuschkuehl, M., Jaeggi, S. M., Hutchison, S., Perrig-Chiello, P., Dapp, C., Muller, M., Breil, F., Hoppeler, H., & Perrig, W. J. (2008). Impact of working memory training on memory performance in old-old adults. Psychology and Aging. 23(4), 743-753.
In their study, Buschkuehl and Jaeggi, et al. (2008) apply a working memory (WM) training intervention on “old-old adults” at age 80 and above to investigate whether training impacts working and episodic memory performance. The authors put strong emphasis on exploring working memory, as it is a cognitive function that has shown to decline with age. Because working memory helps us carry out higher order processes like problem solving, its impairment presents varied issues especially for older adults, who are rarely studied. Moreover, working memory training research has shown to have positive effects on younger age groups for overall memory function but older adults are shown to have less retention in employing memory strategies efficiently.
Despite the “neural and behavioral” differences between old-old adults and younger age groups, the study showed that the brain remains plastic when cognitive systems like working memory follow a consistent training program. Unfortunately, these findings might not be as generalizable due to the sample being older adults who are high functioning with no memory deficits.
IMPLICATIONS: More research needs to be done in developing an efficient memory training intervention that can be utilized for older adults and to improve both working and episodic memory performance. If the working memory training is improved, better results might follow in episodic memory performance. From that, we can further explore the possibility of the two cognitive functions interacting and gain a better understanding on how to improve our memory even at old age.
Hope this helps! -MS
Another helpful article - it basically mentions how stress and childhood poverty can impact adult working memory.
ReplyDeleteEvans, G.W., & Schamberg, M.A. (2009). Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 106, 6545-6549.
Evans and Schamberg (2009) address the societal problem of “income-achievement gap” from a biological and neurocognitive perspective. The income-achievement gap presumes a strong link between income and academic achievement, where childhood poverty is a likely indicator for poor academic achievement. The purpose of Evans and Schamberg’s study is to investigate the possible detrimental effects of childhood poverty and the accompanying exposure to chronic stress on cognitive development, namely working memory. In addition, the authors explore the body’s response to chronic stress from childhood poverty, which may cumulatively impair working memory and potentially other brain structures into young adulthood. The findings connect childhood poverty, chronic stress and working memory processes together as a possible contributor to the income-achievement gap. More importantly, the researchers direct their investigation through a neurobiological lens, which necessitates an approach that integrates biological, cognitive and psychosocial aspects of human development and ways in which these domains of functioning can all dynamically be compromised. We may also learn more about how socioeconomic and other external circumstances may directly impact our brain and its development.
FINDINGS:
The main findings from Evans and Schamberg’s analysis of a study of allostatic loads of 195 poor and middle-class Caucasian students (half male and half female) suggests that extended exposure of poverty and chronic stress during childhood, specifically from birth to 13 years old, the higher the degree of physiological “wear and tear”. Those who experienced poverty for longer durations were also less apt to process sequential information than those who experienced a shorter span. Thus, working memory worsens in young adulthood as a child experiences prolonged poverty. This is important to know because working memory is crucial for skills necessary for academic achievement and adult sufficiency such as problem solving and information processing. This supports the hypothesis that there is a direct relationship to stress and poverty, where it can potentially damage the brain structures, such as working memory.
I am curious if you came across any articles similar to this that relates stress to memory training, etc. -MS
Hey, I have an idea. You can talk about the confirmation bias. Obviously if someone is using these brain games then they are looking for results. If they believe that these games work then they will continue to use them until they do, completely ignoring all the time that goes by without an changes.
ReplyDeleteHope that helps get you started!
p.s. I fed your fish!
Your myth actually reminds about a research project I did on ADHD, and how people with this disorder have working memory and short term memory problems. I learned that there are some cognitive trainings that can help improve your memory, but those training usually didn't improve memory long term. But I was wondering if there are other things you can do to strengthen your memory, like not doing things that would hinder or make your memory worse. I'm not very sure where I'm going here, but I am interested to see what you come up with in your blog!
ReplyDeleteHey! I hope you don't mind me dropping by to give you a small suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of your posts would benefit from defining difficult terms, such as hippocampal neurogenesis, to help the reader follow exactly what you are talking about. Good luck!
Rob
What an interesting topic! This is actually quite relevant as at the moment, I'm aware that my grandmother is paying money for products like these. I'm interested to see if you conclude if they are any good at all. I may link her to your blog!
ReplyDelete