TERRE HAUTE — It is possible to buy products that are supposed to improve one’s mind. Most of these products aim at improving a person’s memory but many products aim at improving a person’s ability to think. This month’s column reviews products that are supposed to improve a person’s memory. Next month’s column will review products intended to improve a person’s thinking ability.
This column will review several kinds of memory training available for purchase. Occasionally, I will point out weaknesses of certain kinds of products. Consequently, I will not offer brand names in order to avoid being sued for saying something negative about a product. Nevertheless, I will give you enough information about these products in case you want to buy one.
First, we will consider various instructional products for memory improvement, including: tutoring, courses, audiotapes, videotapes and CD/DVDs. Second we will examine products that combine these kinds of instruction with practicing memory techniques after they have been explained. Third, we will review products that rely on practicing techniques in real world situations or practicing performance at perceptual tasks that are assumed to be related to memory performance.
Instructional
products
People can purchase a variety of methods to improve their memory. For example, they can obtain memory training from tutors, courses, audiotapes, videotapes, and CD/DVDs where each kind of training explains how to use various memory techniques to perform different memory tasks. These techniques have been discussed in previous columns. For example, one previous column considered how imagery can be used to remember a person’s name.
Audiotapes, videotapes and CD/DVDs lead to only a little improvement, largely because people do not study them enough. Books probably lead to the least improvement in memory because they require a lot of self-discipline from people to practice the methods discussed in a book. People learn the most from courses. The techniques learned are explained and demonstrated in a course. Classes work better because they are conducted at a regular time and date. Techniques are learned incrementally, a few techniques each week. Unfortunately, while classes show people how they can use a technique, classes still do not give people enough opportunities to practice the methods learned.
Regardless of how much is learned initially with one of these instructional methods, the improvement imparted by these methods usually does not last, although what is learned lasts longer for some methods than for others. Tutoring probably results in the most memory improvement. However, most people who use tutors take too few tutoring sessions because they are expensive. As a result, people who take the tutoring to improve their memory end up receiving little tutoring and learning very little. Regardless of the instructional method used, research has shown that people invariably stop using techniques within a couple of weeks after having learned them.
Apparently none of the instructional methods (tutoring, courses, listening to audio tapes, or seeing instruction on an audiotape, a CD/DVD, or reading a book) work well for most people because they do not practice memory techniques enough. These methods also don’t work for many people because they stop trying to learn from the kind of instruction they have purchased. It appears that many customers of these products believe in the ownership principle. This principle holds that if you paid for a product, it will help you even if you don’t use it. The ownership principle applies to a variety of other self-help programs. For example, I am sure that I lost weight after buying the Scarsdale Diet, the Atkins protein Diet, the Southbeach Diet, and several other diets. However, I admit that I did not read these books and did not lose a lot of weight. The same amount of improvement is gained from just ownership of one of the instructional methods of memory improvement.
Instructional
methods requiring practice
However instructed, those people who practice the memory techniques taught to them learn to use these techniques effectively. But the number of people who do so is very small. Consequently, some tutors and some memory courses deliberately make an effort to require students to practice techniques a great deal.
Unfortunately, the practice provided by tutors or given in courses is often artificial because the practice is not done in real world settings. For example, people may practice techniques for learning names by pretending they have been introduced to people in photographs with names on them. In addition, the practice provided by tutors and courses is typically not enough to lead a person to use the technique after training. Moreover, many people drop out of courses when they discover that they have to practice the techniques in front of other people. Apparently, even when given a lot of artificial practice, the amount of memory improvement is not great.
Exercise methods
Because practice fails when it is insufficient, unrealistic and embarrassing, a method was developed to give people enough practice in realistic situations where embarrassment is not an issue. A few years ago, a series of CD-ROMs were created to tutor individuals in specific kinds of memory skills. These CD ROMs present a user with knowledge about memory techniques and then provide him or her with visual images of realistic situations in which they could practice their use of the techniques by themselves. Research has shown that CD-ROM training does lead people to increase their memory skills.
In addition to the development of CD-ROMs, another very different system has been created to improve memory. This system presents people with a great deal of practice at detecting sounds or lights. The logic of such a system is that extensive practice at perception may stimulate the brain so that nerves might grow. Such stimulation is believed to prevent a decline in neurological functioning. However, more research is needed before it may be concluded that stimulation affects the brain as believed.
A Sharper Mind
June 4, 2008
A Sharper Mind: The science behind commercial methods of mind improvement
- A Sharper Mind
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- A Shaper Mind: A review of Sharper Mind columns Don’t worry. Just because I am providing a review in this column, it doesn’t mean I am going to give an exam afterward. I just want to go over some of the most important ideas discussed in this column previously. The reason that I am doing this is because this is my last column. I admit that I just could not remember any topic that had not been examined here.
- Holiday gift giving for the sharper mind This year, more than most years, gift giving during the holidays is going to be especially challenging. Gift-giving this year will require more accurate remembering and more problems solving than in previous years.
- The pros and cons of cell phones This column will, first, review why cell phones have a positive effect on our mind. Subsequently, we will consider the dangerous consequences of talking on a cell phone while driving and then the very dangerous consequences of text-messaging on a cell phone while driving,
- Activities of daily living that depend on memory Everyone forgets something that they are supposed to do in everyday life. They may have known what they should do for a long time or for after a minute or so. This column examines the role of memory in some common activities in one’s day.
- Why names and appointments are difficult to remember Everyone has weaknesses. Mine is popcorn and more popcorn. We also have weaknesses when it comes to memory. I don’t know your memory weaknesses and I don’t care to share mine. But I can tell you the memory weaknesses that most of us say we have.
- Consider thinking training It is possible to buy products that are supposed to improve one’s mind? Last month’s column discussed products that aim at improving a person’s memory. As promised, this month’s column reviews products (such as courses, books, tapes, CDs, and CD ROMS) that are aimed at improving a person’s ability to think.
- A Sharper Mind: The science behind commercial methods of mind improvement It is possible to buy products that are supposed to improve one’s mind. Most of these products aim at improving a person’s memory but many products aim at improving a person’s ability to think. This month’s column reviews products that are supposed to improve a person’s memory. Next month’s column will review products intended to improve a person’s thinking ability.
- Candidates, superdelegates not lying, just forgetful Recently, some presidential candidates have apparently forgotten something that others expected them to remember. Also some superdelegates have switched allegiance from one candidate to the other, revealing that they forgot the candidate they originally favored.
- The advantages and disadvantages of memorists Every family has one. Every group of friends has one, too: a person who tends to remember almost everything that is going on. This person knows all about upcoming events (concerts, lectures), what is at the movies, and what’s on TV. Sometimes, this person even knows what is going on among family members, friends and acquaintances. Accurate gossip is a valuable commodity.
- Drake sweeps ISU softball Friday, but Saturday's game called off Indiana State’s softball team played 19 games before ever stepping foot on the Price Field diamond Friday for a doubleheader against Drake. The homecoming wasn’t a happy one — Drake swept ISU with 5-1 and 6-2 victories — but the long-term concern is on the mound, where star pitcher Darcy Wood is battling a shoulder injury.
- Completing a medical history form at a doctor’s office These days, when you visit a doctor’s office for the first time, you are given a form on which you are supposed to record important facts about your medical history. Unfortunately, these forms ask for considerable information, much of which few human beings can recall. More unfortunate yet is that different doctors use different forms. Consequently, we are required to fill out medical history forms calling for essentially the same information all over again for each new doctor.
- Owls may get the credit for being wise, but you should want an elephant’s mind Just to be clear at the outset, this column does not endorse or reject the symbol of a political party. Also, the column has nothing to do with a rock group called Elephant Memory that Yoko Ono and John Lennon promoted in the early 1970s. Instead, the topic of this column is the memory of real live elephants.
- Sometimes we fail to remember something and feel guilty Some people regard memory as an open or shut case. We either remember or don’t remember.
- A Sharper Mind: Benefiting from each others memory failures We all are forgetful occasionally and leave something of ours behind in public places such as stores, shopping centers, and at the homes of family, friends and acquaintances. For example, we may forget to take with us things like a pair of gloves, an umbrella, a scarf or a jacket. Because we are all in this world together, we should forgive each other's memory failures.
- Don’t let others profit from your memory failures We all are forgetful on occasion. Some of us are more forgetful than others. If our forgetting inconveniences someone else, we hope that they will not be angry and will forgive our lapse. However, in addition to the possible anger or forgiving, there is another way someone might respond to our memory failure.
- A Sharper Mind: Learning how to get a bright idea In the past, this column has discussed the factors that facilitate problem solving and critical thinking. For example, such factors include understanding a problem in the first place, ignoring solutions tried previously, avoiding being fixated on a solution to a similar problem and by overloading one’s brain.
- A Sharper Mind: Reminiscences of meals past Much of our lives are spent eating. As a result, we have many memories of breakfast, lunch or dinner, as well as for in between snacks. Sometimes we may want to remember what we ate on a certain occasion. This column considers what is the best way to recover the memory of what was eaten.
- A Sharper Mind: Some amount of forgetting is normal, but just how much? We often hear that it is important to be normal. Certainly we prefer to have a normal body temperature, heart rate and blood pressure. However, we probably prefer not to be normal on some occasions. I am not saying we should prefer to be abnormal, but we want to be distinguished for something, to know something or do something better than others.
- A Sharper Mind: How to not look stupid (at least some of the time) I do not mean to suggest that you or I look stupid a lot of the time.
- A Sharper Mind: Politics of remembering and the intelligencia of Indiana Part of this column will be devoted to an announcement. Another part will be devoted to my claim that Hautians are among the brightest people on the planet. Finally I will discuss a public demonstration of how important remembering can be in everyday life.
- A Sharper Mind: Forgetting names is most annoying but we aren’t raised to remember Here is a topic that we haven’t covered for quite a while. It hasn’t been covered because there were so many other things to discuss. Nevertheless, it probably will be beneficial for most of us to review the key ideas about how to learn names.
- A Sharper Mind: Finally enough failures for Forgetting Hall of Fame III A few months back, this column honored noteworthy memory failures in the Forgetting Halls of Fame I and II. It looks like these Halls of Fame have been very helpful to readers because very few failures have been happening to the people around me.
- A Sharper Mind: Is it nature or nurture? Why memory differs for men, women Here is a topic that most people find interesting: the memory performance of men and women. I will review the results of a great deal of research about gender differences in memory in this column. The research indicates that women are superior at some memory tasks and men are superior at other memory tasks. Some of the results are not surprising; some are surprising. Regardless of how the results come out, there is one overriding question. Do men and women differ in memory performance because of differences in genetic ability or because of differences in how males and females are raised and treated as adults in our culture?
- A Sharper Mind: Changing of seasons makes for forgetful time of year Ah yes, spring is upon us. This is the time that our thoughts stray to — whatever. As wonderful as spring may be, we actually are especially vulnerable to forgetting when this season arrives. Each season we become accustomed to the season’s typical temperature and season’s typical appearance of the sky. When the environment changes unexpectedly, we lose environmental cues that remind us of things to do.
- A Sharper Mind: Consider the effort we give to thinking about our problems There is a famous statue of a nude person sitting with his head looking down, with his jaw resting on the fist of the right forearm, which rests on the person’s right knee. The sculptor, a Frenchman named Auguste Rodin, called this sculpture “the thinker.”
- A Sharper Mind: Memory performs up to cultural expectations People in different cultures vary in what memory tasks they are good at. A culture refers to a group of people who share beliefs and habits of communication. The workplace is made up of different cultures, management, skilled workers and unskilled workers. Each family has its own culture. Everyone belongs to one or more cultures.
- A Sharper Mind: Brilliant ideas more elusive, likely to be forgotten Some of our thoughts elude us because they pass through our mind so quickly that we cannot remember them later. For this article, we are concerned with just important elusive thoughts. These are thoughts about brilliant ideas we may want to act on or about ideas that are practically useful, such as for something we need to do.
- A Sharper Mind: Mental dictionary, spell check provide sharp language tools This column considers how sharp we are when it comes to language.
- Herrmann: Creativity: Something for all, no matter what you think Creativity is admired whenever it is noticed. We may recognize a new invention as creative.
- A Sharper Mind: As matter of courtesy, don’t be caught faking memory Courtesy is more than knowing what fork to use and when.
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