Brain Fitness Tip of the Week: Remembering Whether You Remembered
Something that challenges older persons about their memory is being able to remember whether they have already done something. “Did I take my medicine this morning?” is the kind of question people may ask themselves. This is very common when I talk to older persons about their memories, and is probably related to the most common complaint I hear: “I went in to the next room to get something and forgot why I went!”
Psychologists are increasingly interested in prospective memory, the ability to remember to remember something. Remembering to take your medicine is an example of this kind of problem. Closely related is the problem of monitoring this kind of regular action, or remembering whether you remembered to do something. You may find yourself asking, “Did I take my medicine today?”
A team of researchers published a study of this problem and found a way older people to remember better. Mark McDaniel at Washington University and his colleagues carried out two experiments that examined this issue. They showed that older persons made more mistakes involving remembering whether they had pressed a key on a computer than did younger people. This was especially true when both groups were doing a complex set of tasks. This had been reported before, but confirms what many older persons might report.
They also showed a way to reduce the memory errors. McDaniel and his colleagues showed that asking the older persons to put their hand on their head while they pressed the computer’s key. When the older persons did this, they performed just as well as the younger participants.
McDaniel and colleagues suggest that putting their hands on their heads helped the older persons pay attention to the fact they were pressing the key. This finding highlights the importance of paying attention for memory. If something doesn’t get in to your mind, it can’t be remembered. One of the keys for older persons to remember better is to do something that helps them focus their attention. Putting your hand on your head may help you to focus your attention while doing something you might otherwise forget.
Here’s the reference for the study:
Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, Volume 16, Issue 5 September 2009 , pages 563 – 588
I love this. Remembering to remember is one of the biggest issues that can be addressed with brain fitness. It’s one of the issues, imho, that needs to be addressed by the industry – the practical, usable, and demonstrable benefits of training the brain.
Brain fitness is important. Doing these brain exercises helps to improve memory, so we don’t have these little moments of forgetting to remember.
Thank you! You often write very interesting articles. You improved my mood.