Practical Psychology: Improve Memory By Resting

Practical tips based on published psychology research.

Research published in Psychological Science by Michaela Dewar et al found that a brief (10 minute) wakeful rest following new verbal learning enhances memory for at least 7 days.

So here's a top tip in the week leading up to your exams - after reading each piece of material you need to learn rest quietly with your eyes closed for 10 minutes in a darkened room - because as the authors note:

"In this age of information overload, there are few opportunities to sit back and rest. However, as demonstrated by our findings, postlearning resting can be highly beneficial if one wishes to retain new information over the long term."

You can read the study's abstract via the following link.

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/07/23/0956797612441220

(Photo Credit: thekellyscope)

War of The Ghosts

Psychology



Photo Credit: Ucumari

This psychology blog post arose from a query posted on the psychology questions section of the website, namely:

I have been searching the Internet trying to find a copy of a tale used in an experiment on memory. I thought it was used by Watson or James (not really sure). Anyway, it had something to do with warriors and canoes.

The experiment in question was by British psychologist Sir Frederic Bartlett who used a Native American folk tale "The War of The Ghosts" to test the notion of 'schema', namely the cultural and historical contextualisation of memory.

I'd forgotten (no pun intended) just how interesting and important this research was; and in the process of revisiting it, I came across an excellent radio broadcast on the subject which you can listen to in full by Clicking Here

---

Please share this Psychology Blog Post with others by adding it to your social bookmarks.

---

www.all-about-psychology.com

A Free & Comprehensive Guide to The World of Psychology

---

War of The Ghosts