Topic
Long-term memory research, explained
13 open-access long-term memory studies, each with a flashcard deck and a quiz.
- Can playing Tetris reduce intrusive memories of trauma?
Playing a visuospatial computer game like Tetris after reactivating a consolidated emotional memory significantly reduces the frequency of subsequent involuntary intrusions.
- How doorways and walls shape our long-term memories
Passing through a doorway weakens our ability to remember the order of events that happened on either side of it, even when the time and distance between them are controlled.
- Does negative emotion disrupt how we bind memories together?
Negative emotional elements disrupt our ability to link the different parts of a memory together, leaving us with fragmented rather than cohesive recollections.
- Does 360-degree virtual reality improve memory testing?
Viewing a virtual environment through an immersive headset helped participants recognize objects better after a short delay compared to using a tablet.
- Do stories help us link memories of distant events?
Connecting unrelated, separate experiences into a single, cohesive story makes those events easier to remember later, even if they happened far apart in time.
- Are pattern separation and completion independent processes?
An individual's ability to distinguish between highly similar memories does not predict how well they can reconstruct a whole memory from a partial cue.
- How does the brain remember and recognize emotional music?
While the brain uses frontal and temporal regions to recognize positive music, a low overall memory rate in this study prevented researchers from proving that positive music is easier to remember than neutral music.
- Does color synesthesia boost visual memory for regular objects?
People who associate letters and numbers with colors have a broad memory advantage for visual stimuli, even for images that do not trigger their synesthesia.
- How does memory loss affect our sense of being the same person?
Individuals with Alzheimer's disease maintain a strong belief that they are the same person over time, even though they struggle to explain why and tell less coherent life stories.
- What strategies do we use during memory and navigation tasks?
People rely primarily on mental scene construction when recalling memories, planning the future, and navigating, but switch to verbal strategies for abstract tasks.
- Do matching sounds help us remember objects later?
Hearing a matching, task-irrelevant sound when looking at an object makes you more likely to vividly recollect it later.
- Testing Memory in Aging and Dementia with Embodied Concepts
Healthy older adults and patients with dementia show distinct memory errors based on how their brains integrate sensory details with factual concepts.
- Do people with color synesthesia have better visual memory?
Synesthetes show a subtle visual memory advantage for abstract, colorless patterns, but this difference is only clear when compared to older adults rather than their peers.