It reads like science fiction, but according to a new study, walking through a doorway can make you forget what you’re supposed to do next. Ask yourselves this: how many times have you found yourself standing in the middle of the hallway, trying to remember what you were about to do? Or do you remember that time when you wanted to tell your roommate something only to forget all about it the moment you walked into her room? Thankfully, there’s no reason for you to panic or even call your local albularyo; this is simply a psychological quirk in the human brain.
Published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, the study aimed to find out just what triggers the memory loss and how common it is. Gabriel Radvansky, a Psychology Professor at the University of Notre Dame, has a pretty good idea. "Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an 'event boundary' in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away," he explained. "Recalling the decision or activity that was made in a different room is difficult because it has been compartmentalized."
To prove his theory, Radvansky conducted three experiments. In the first stage, he placed his subjects in a virtual environment where they were asked to choose an object from one table and to exchange said object for another at a different table in a different room. He repeated the experiment but limited the movement to the same room only. Results revealed that the subjects were unable to retrieve more information when they were asked to move from one room to another.
In the second stage, Radvansky copied the same terms of his first experiment and asked his subjects to perform the same tasks, this time, in a real-world setting. Again, results revealed that those who had had to pass through doorways retained less information.
In his last experiment, the psychology professor tested whether the environment had something to do with the retrieval of information or not. Perhaps subjects would remember more if they were made to pass through several doorways to return to the room where everything began. Alas, there were no improvements in memory. Based on the results, doorways really do seem to be an automatic trigger for forgetting or at least, filing information away.
Need help remembering things? Try this article for ideas:
(Photo by dospaz via Flickr Creative Commons)
