It seems that seeing a picture that would scare you after you learn some new things may help you remember those things better

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It seems that seeing a picture that would scare you after you learn some new things may help you remember those things better

Seeing pictures or even imagining some negative scenes can enhance your memory.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered that viewing such images immediately after taking a test actually enhances people’s retention of the tested material. It seems that this is the first study which shows that actually viewing negative pictures, like a scary face or even the outcome of a great disaster can help people recall better information they learned previous to watching the pictures. It seems that this practice is very effective and according to Bridgid Finn, PhD, postdoctoral researcher in psychology in Arts & Sciences, given that the human memory is so labile and dynamic after we learn something, we are still engaged in processing that information in some way, even after we have finished learning. This is the time when we should watch something that scares us, in order to better store that information into our memory.

Finn and Henry L. Roediger III, PhD, James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and dean of academic planning, tested 40 undergraduate WUSTL students who had to study ten lists of ten pairs of Swahili-English vocabulary items. Then, the volunteers who participated in the study were given a cued recall test after studying each set of items and at the end, they were given a final test with the entire 100 vocabulary items. After each list of items, the participants had to give a test and then, they were shown either a scary image with a gun pointed towards them or a neutral image, of a chair or table or something like that. The results of the study show that participants who were shown a negative image after they take the first test, did better at remembering the pairs of words at the final test. This study shows that we are still engaged in a process of memorizing stuff even when we think we have finished and it is a first new step in exploring the human mind and memory. According to Finn, in order for this thing to work, people need to understand the information they are processing before being shown a negative image, this thing is crucial, otherwise, it does not work. Furthermore, it seems that positive images do not enhance anything, neither retrieval nor retention. “Positive content, so far, doesn’t seem to be doing the trick,” Finn says. She went on saying that this may be the first step into understanding what kind of things are beneficial to enhance the memory of people. The most important thing, Finn says, is the period after retrieval. That period is crucial and one of the most important things, when it comes to the enhancement of the memory. She concluded by saying that further studies are to be made on the issue, in order to explore more the possibilities.

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