Is technology impairing our working memory? From our ever-increasing reliance on word processing to help us improve grammar, Blackberries to remind us of appointments, speed-dial so we don’t have to remember phone numbers and a universe of information available at the click of a mouse. What is the trade-off: what we do give up when we rely on new technology? Are the likes of Facebook and YouTube reducing our ability to engage in everyday life? In fact, the opposite may be true; technology can dramatically improve our working memory.
Facebook one of the most popular social networking sites with more than 300 million active users. Apart from the novelty of connecting with people you haven’t seen since you were 5 years old (for better or for worse!), it can also promote a sense of social connectedness. Those who are cut off from others often become isolated and may miss out on many benefits within education and employment. Studies on elderly populations found that those who spent more time meeting up with friends or talking on the phone experience less memory loss than their peers who were more isolated.
Technology is advancing quickly and more and more students use social networking sites. But what impact does this have on education? Can virtual social connections boost working memory? I looked at these questions in a recent study. A group of high-schoolers filled in a questionnaire about how long they spent using social networking sites, such as Facebook. I also measured their IQ, working memory, and academic attainment. I found that those who used Facebook more regularly (1x a day) had better working memory scores, as well as higher spelling and vocabulary. The sense of belonging and social connectedness that we feel when using social networking sites such as Facebook, releases a feel-good hormone, which bolsters our working memory. Good news for schools who are integrating social networking sites into their programs.
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I will be speaking at the British Science Festival this year on ‘Working Memory: The New IQ’ and thought I would give you a little preview of some of the topics that I will cover:
*The Genetics of Working Memory
What makes Gordon Ramsay, chef extraordinaire and owner of multiple restaurants around the globe, so successful, while his brother ended up in a jail for drug dealing and then homeless on the streets of London? Is Gordon Ramsay’s success in life related to his working memory? Do the genes we inherit play a role? Identical twins have identical genes, whereas fraternal twins share about half their genes. I have conducted one of the few scientific studies on identical and fraternal twins to understand the role of family in determining our working memory.
*The Spiral of Working Memory
It may come as a surprise to find out that working memory is linked to clenched fists and uncontrollable rage. In fact, boys with poor working memory are at greater risk of physical aggression and juvenile delinquency. I am working with juvenile delinquents and we will learn how their poor working memory led them down an increasingly dangerous path of crime. Evidence from my research demonstrates this spiral effect: young boys with poor working memory make criminal choices which damage their working memory (e.g., through alcohol, drugs, etc), which lead to worse decisions and more extreme criminal behavior.
* Tyranny of Technology?
With our ever-increasing reliance on word processing to help us write grammatically correct sentences, Blackberries to remind us of our appointments, speed-dial so we don’t have to remember the phone numbers, a universe of information available with a few keystrokes, are we impairing our working memory? What is the trade-off: what we do give up when we rely on new technology? Do Twitter-driven brevity and YouTube clips reduce our ability to engage in everyday life? In fact, technology can dramatically improve our working memory. There have been an influx of computer games and programs that promise to train your working memory muscle to Olympian proportions. But do they deliver? We have devised the world’s first working memory game that is clinically proven to improve grades for students as well as IQ. We look at the science behind different programs to find out what works and what doesn’t.
*The Twilight of Working Memory
Most of us worry about losing our memory as we grow old. I know I do. Will I forget significant events, meaningful relationships, even or how to perform simple daily activities? Understanding what we can do to train our working memory can have a tremendous impact in preventing memory loss and delay the signs of dementia.
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You may remember the 1968 movie, the Planet of the Apes. Charlton Heston played an astronaut, Taylor, who crash-landed on an alien planet of super-smart apes. He was imprisoned by the apes and, after escaping, he sees the Statue of Liberty, fallen to the ground. That’s when he realises, the alien planet was Earth all along! The super-smart apes have taken over the world.
This sounds far-fetched, right? Apes will never be smarter than humans . . . right? Well, in fact, they are already smarter than us. In a study by Japanese researchers*, five-year-old chimpanzees were able to correctly recall the location and sequence of numbers on a computer screen, and even outperformed university students!
What gives the chimps the edge on this working memory task? A couple of things: Biology and Age.
Biology: Chimps have an amazing photographic memory—an ability to quickly look at a very complex scene and retain an accurate image of it. They use this ability in the wild to quickly asses any potential dangers. Humans don’t have this ability, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. Scientists believe that humans gave up this skill to make room in the brain for developing complex language skills.
Age: This visual memory has been found in some human children but this ability fades as we get older. This aging effect is found even in chimps as the older chimps did worse on the task than the university students. So, the five-year-old chimps had the advantage of age compared to the college students.
*S. Inoue & T. Matsuzawa (2007). Current Biology
You may be one of the 18 million people that watched the YouTube clip of Jill and Kevin dancing down the aisle on their wedding day to Chris Brown’s ‘Forever’.
What is it about weddings that make us feel good? Maybe you love weddings because of the free cake. Or maybe you like them because of you get to laugh at the bridesmaid dresses. Or perhaps, like me, you like weddings because it gives you a chance to share in a friend’s joy and reminisce with people you don’t get a chance to see very often.
Believe it or not, our connection to friends and family plays a big role in preserving our working memory. A recent study* showed that adults who spoke or emailed their family at least once a week and met up with their neighbors or friends for a chat were less likely to lose their working memory ability. Those who lived alone and were isolated were more likely to suffer signs of memory decline associated with dementia. The researchers suggest that regular contact with friends and loved ones provide a greater sense of purpose and emotional support that boosts working memory.
So what are you waiting for, call your mom. You know she’d love to hear from you.
* KA Ertel (2008). American Journal of Public Health
Michael Jackson’s death a few days ago has shocked the world. Like everyone else who grew up in the eighties, I listened to his music, and even saw an advance screening of the Thriller video when it first came out. He was not just a great singer, but a once great businessman, recognizing valuable investments before anyone else did. So how did someone that was once so successful die broke and overdosed on drugs? One possible reason is related to his working memory. The autopsy on the King of Pop showed that he had taken a dangerous cocktail of opiate based drugs, including OxyContin and Demerol. Opiate based drugs impair your working memory, affecting your ability to mentally store and manipulate information. Scientific studies show that those who take opiates struggle to remember even a simple list of words a short time after they have taken opiate-based drugs. It does not need to have been suicide as many people are suggesting. By taking OxyContin and other opiates, Michael Jackson might, quite literally have forgotten how much he had taken, and taken even more – enough to overdose. This seems to have happened more than once as his nanny claims to have pumped his stomach to save his life numerous times. Excessive use of opiates would also explain his problems in controlling his spending as his working memory that would help him evaluate his financial decisions would be lost when under the influence of such drugs.
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Susan Boyle’s break-down and odd behavior during the final is not surprising. Like her, many people who struggle with learning disabilities can find it very hard to cope in difficult situations. Susan’s learning disability came about because she was deprived of oxygen at birth.
Scientific studies have found that even minor oxygen deprivation during birth can cause serious damage. People find it hard to stay focused on the big picture, remember important information, even keep track of what they need to do. Their language skills may be worse compared to their friends and they can struggle to keep up with conversations. Difficulty in processing and integrating information can cause someone to over react or explode over a well-meaning comment. As a psychologist, I receive lots of emails from adults, like Susan, who are frustrated and have even lost their jobs because they can’t remember things.
At the core of these difficulties is working memory. Working memory is our brain’s post-it note. We use those little yellow slips of paper not only to jot down important information, but also to work with it. Working memory has been found to be more important than IQ.
We use working memory in everyday situations, like staying focused during a meeting, solving a complex problem, responding to questions, even saying the right thing when we are distracted or feeling emotional. People with good working memory are able to make better decisions under stress and overcome frustration, and are less likely to be overwhelmed. As is clearly the case with Susan Boyle, working memory problems do not affect your ability to sing like an angel.
Imagine being in Susan’s position in front the whole world, and not having the ability to focus! What would you do? What would any of us do?
Can Susan improve her working memory to deal better with the stress of worldwide celebrity? Yes, she can. There is a lot of exciting evidence that shows that our brain can actually grow depending on what we do. The best way to grow our brain is through brain training.
Brain training has received a lot of interest lately and there is evidence that it works. One brain training program that I helped to develop to train working memory is JungleMemory(www.junglememory.com). In clinical trials, students go from a C to a B, or a B to an A in just 12 weeks! Just imagine what Susan can do with the right help. The sky’s the limit!
