Ever wonder why you doodle while in class or in a meeting? Scientists have learned that it helps you remember what you’re hearing even though?to everyone else?it may look like you’re daydreaming. It turns out that doodlers perform 29% better on memory tests than non-doodlers.

BBC News quotes researcher Jackie Andrade as saying, “If someone is doing a boring task, like listening to a dull telephone conversation, they may start to daydream. Daydreaming distracts them from the task, resulting in poor performance. A simple task, like doodling, may be sufficient to stop daydreaming without affecting performance on the main task.”
read more

Scientists learn more about our memories every day?how to make them better as well as how to intentionally make them worse. And to keep your memory sharp, drink coffee!

Do you remember the seventh song that played on your radio on the way to work yesterday? Most of us don’t, thanks to a normal forgetting process that is constantly culling uneeded information from our brains. Researchers now believe that this normal memory loss is hyper-activated in Alzheimer’s disease.
read more

Is your memory not as good as it used to be? You may soon be able to remember things you have long forgotten. This is based on a discovery that was made by researchers who were trying to suppress a fat man’s appetite!

In the January 30th edition of the Independent, Jeremy Laurance writes, “Scientists performing experimental brain surgery on a man aged 50 have stumbled across a mechanism that could unlock how memory works.” They put electrodes into his brain, which were then stimulated with an electric current. But instead of losing his appetite, the patient began to remember a scene from 30 years ago, in intricate detail. Further tests showed that his memory had improved in general. This could have important applications for people with Alzheimer’s disease.
read more

Scientists have always assumed that humans have better memories than our close cousins the chimpanzees, but in a recent contest, the chimps won! Now they’ve won again?in a contest with a British memory champion who is able to memorize the order of a shuffled pack of cards in less than 30 seconds. Want to remember something YOU’VE just studied? Go home and take a nice long nap?it will give you the memory of a monkey!
read more