Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
Interesting

Errors sharpen memory while learning

Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Oct, 2014 07:06 AM
    Committing mistakes while learning can benefit the memory and lead one to come up with the correct answer, but only if the guess is a near miss, a research revealed.
     
    "Making random guesses does not appear to benefit later memory for the right answer but near-miss guesses act as stepping stones for retrieval of the correct information - and this benefit is seen in younger and older adults," said lead investigator Andree-Ann Cyr from the Baycrest Health Sciences' Rotman Research Institute and the University of Toronto.
     
    In the latest study, 65 healthy younger adults (average age 22) and 64 healthy older adults (average age 72) learned target words like rose, based either on the semantic category it belongs to (a flower) or its word stem (a word that begins with the letters 'ro').
     
    For half of the words, participants were given the answer right away ('the answer is rose') and for the other half, they were asked to guess before seeing the answer (a flower: 'is it tulip? or ro___ : is it rope?').
     
    The researchers wanted to know if participants would be better at remembering rose if they had made wrong guesses prior to studying it rather than seeing it right away.
     
    They found that remembering improved if participants' learnt on the basis of categories (a flower).
     
    Guessing made memory worse when words were learned based on word stems (ro___).
     
    This was the case for both younger and older adults.
     
    "This is because our memory organises information based on how it is conceptually rather than lexically related to other information," Cyr added.
     
    For example, when you think of the word pear, your mind is more likely to jump to another fruit, such as apple, than to a word that looks similar, such as peer.
     
    The latest research provides evidence that trial-and-error learning can benefit memory in both young and old, when errors are meaningfully related to the right answer. And can harm memory when they are not.
     
    The paper appeared in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.

    MORE Interesting ARTICLES

    Beware! Anti-odour clothes may leave you smelly

    Beware! Anti-odour clothes may leave you smelly
    Planning to buy an anti-odour shirt to stay fresh all day long? Think again as new research shows that anti-odour clothing may not be living up to its promise....

    Beware! Anti-odour clothes may leave you smelly

    Women think it's not necessary to take husband's last name

    Women think it's not necessary to take husband's last name
    Indian traditions tell women to take their husband's last name after marriage. But a survey has revealed that the majority of Indian women think it as an unnecessary practice....

    Women think it's not necessary to take husband's last name

    Is that a 'traffic signal' on Mars?

    Is that a 'traffic signal' on Mars?
    Are aliens using traffic signal to cross roads on Red Planet? Fun apart, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has clicked a picture on the Martian surface that resembles a “traffic signal”.

    Is that a 'traffic signal' on Mars?

    Men with bulging bellies last longer in bed

    Men with bulging bellies last longer in bed
    Do not be ashamed of your bulging belly any more during sex. A fascinating research shows that men with larger bellies perform much longer between the sheets...

    Men with bulging bellies last longer in bed

    Yoga and meditation help people use gadgets better

    Yoga and meditation help people use gadgets better
    In recent years, there has been a lot of attention on improving the computer side of the brain-computer interface but very little attention to the brain side....

    Yoga and meditation help people use gadgets better

    Saudi man divorces wife for not closing car door

    Saudi man divorces wife for not closing car door
    The couple reportedly went out on a picnic and when they returned home, the wife got out, helped their children to do so and then moved to go into the...

    Saudi man divorces wife for not closing car door