So what am I gonna do now???
^(^-^)^
Most people probably think of these things:
~ music
~ Hyves / Facebook / any other social network
~ porn (if they are horny beasts X'D.. FYI: THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE ME! ^^)
~ online games
.. but I'm not one of the 'most people'.. because I think of these:
~ blogs
~ fanfiction site
~ Deviantart (graphics site)
~ Okay... FarmVille on Facebook.. =$ I admit guilty!
Now my mind has thought up something to do in my boredom! XD
It's not an average thing and I don't know how I got to think of that, but this is what I did..
I opened Google and typed in: 'psychology test'
Then I clicked on the first link which brought me to the site of the BBC! XD
There's a whole list of psychological tests!
I'm immediately reminded of EHB (Exploration of the Human Body)! XD Seems like I'll be doing EMHB (Exploration of My Human Body) soon! ^^ Thehe..
I want to do the following test: Explore your memory..
I am quite tired, so I wonder how I will do! XP
Anyway.. I'm going to take the test now.. it's supposed to take me 20 minutes (as stated on the site).
*takes the test*
Want to know the results~?
Well, it's a looooooooooong text! Here they are:
Part 1: Spot the difference – visual recognition memory
This was a quick test of your visual recognition memory. You had to look at photos, store them in your visual memory and decide if they had changed when you saw them a few seconds later.
You got 2 out of 3 photos correct.
When looking at scenes in pictures or in real life, we often take in only enough information to allow us to recognise what is important at the time. For example, to recognise a pub or a car, we do not need to pay attention to every detail. To recognise a scene on a beach we do not have to remember every fine detail about the people, the chairs or the ice cream seller.
We only remember those details that we actually need unless we have some reason to focus on something very specific about the picture.
Our visual recognition memory has limited storage space. If we were to remember all of the details in every scene we encountered, we would soon run out of space. Our memory deals with this by storing only minimal details, but this makes it more difficult to spot subtle changes.
"In a scientific study, burglars were better at seeing detail like open windows, alarms and cars in the drive"
Professor Robert Logie, University of Edinburgh
Burglars are better
A group of former burglars were shown house photos. They were found to be statistically better at spotting changes in the appearance of a house that were related to burglary (eg a burglar alarm or 'beware of the dog' sign) than non-burglars. The theory is that their 'profession' requires attention to small burglary-related details about houses, and therefore they have a motivation to focus on and remember those details.
Estate agents and house buyers would be more likely to remember details such as the colour of the door, how many rooms there are, and the appearance of the garden. Again, what they remember is linked to what they focus on and this is affected by their specific interests.
If you’re not a burglar or an estate agent, visual recognition memory still comes in very handy. For example, you can use your visual memory to remember where you just left your car keys, where you parked your car, or to remember the way out of an unfamiliar building.
A rigorous test of visual recognition memory would have included more photos. This was just a taste of this type of activity.
Part 2: Memory binding – colours and animals
We asked you to remember three things about a series of objects – colour, shape and screen position. This was a test of a theory called 'memory binding'.
Memory binding relates to your ability to tie things together in your working memory and update them when they change. You need this skill for everyday activities like driving a car.
You saw one of four versions of the questions. Some people were randomly selected to see questions that were slightly more difficult to answer. On a scale of 1–4 (where 4 is the hardest), your test was predicted to be 4. The scientist who developed the test needed to give people different versions of the questions to find out which factors make memory binding more difficult. He'll only know which one is hardest when he has analysed the survey results.
Even if you got an easier version of the test, it was still difficult so don't be surprised if you didn't score very highly.
You were able to remember the details of 2 animals. The test ended if you got two wrong in a row at the same level of difficulty.
Part 3: Numbers – digit span
You had to remember series of numbers that got longer as the test progressed. We literally filled your working memory with numbers until it couldn’t hold any more, in order to test your digit span.
Our ability to remember sequences of numbers (digit span) and letters over short periods of time is collectively known as 'verbal working memory capacity'. This type of memory helps us to remember a telephone number long enough to dial it. It also seems to be important for remembering a new word that we have never heard before, for example, in a foreign language.
Language matters
Interestingly, the language you speak can affect the results of the digit span test. When researchers gave the same test to children in Wales and England, they were puzzled when the Welsh children had lower scores. They eventually discovered that it takes longer to say numbers aloud in Welsh than it does in English. And the length of time it takes to say a number affects digit span performance. Once this difference was accounted for, the Welsh and English scores matched.
You remembered 7 numbers. The test goes up to digit series that have nine numbers, but it ends if you get two wrong in a row at the same level of difficulty.
If you had a low score, it is important to know that several things can affect number memory, including stress, tiredness, whether you are paying attention, how quickly you speak, and which language you speak. Some people might be better at remembering visual patterns (like the grid square test) than they are at remembering numbers.
You can improve your performance slightly by saying the numbers more quickly and repeating them aloud. But we wouldn’t recommend doing that if you’re trying to remember your bank PIN in public! It can also help if you say the numbers over to yourself inside your head without saying them aloud.
Yet another way of improving your memory for numbers is to ‘chunk’ them. So instead of remembering 849537, try 849 537.
Part 4: Patterns – grid squares – visual working memory capacity
The grid patterns tested the storage capacity of your visual working memory. You had to reproduce patterns that got progressively bigger and more difficult to remember. If you got two wrong in a row at the same level of difficulty, the test stopped.
Our visual working memory capacity is the point at which our working memory reaches its limit to hold any more visual information.
Lots of everyday activities require a good visual working memory. Artists, designers and architects would particularly benefit if they had a good visual memory capacity.
The largest pattern you were able to remember had 20 squares. The test goes up to grid patterns with 25 squares.
Most people will be able to remember 9–16 squares. [edit: =D I did better than average! Woohoo! =P]
Even though the grid patterns look a bit like a chess board, chess experts do not have an advantage. The reason for this is that a chess player remembers patterns that have meaning in the world of chess. Likewise, if one of the patterns looked a bit like an animal you’d have less trouble remembering it. Because the patterns we showed you are randomly generated, it’s much harder to remember them.
The grid square test measures the limit at which your memory can't hold any more information – your visual working memory capacity
Has evolution limited our memories?
Some scientists think there is an evolutionary explanation for our limited working memories. Can you imagine if you could remember all the visual information you saw in a day? You’d probably end up with a headache! The evolutionary advantage of a limited working memory is that it allows us to focus on the task at hand and not be distracted by pointless detail.
Part 5: Everyday objects – coin and stamp
You did remember which way the Queen's head faces on a pound coin.
You did remember which way she faces on a 1st class stamp.
[edit: I have never even held a pound coin or 1st class stamp in my own hands.. this was a lucky guess... and I guess I got lucky! XD]
Don't be surprised if you didn't remember which way the Queen's head faces on a pound coin or a 1st class stamp. Many people get this wrong. Similar tests have been repeated many times around the world, using different coins, and the result is always the same.
Just because we see an object frequently it doesn't necessarily mean that we'll remember it accurately. Normally we only have to remember enough information to be able to identify a pound coin among a handful of change, and which way the Queen faces is not needed for this. We’re better at remembering things that are important to us. So, people who collect coins or stamps are more likely to do well on this task.
Part 6: Spot the difference – delayed recall
It's extremely difficult to remember every detail in a scene because our brains have evolved to cut out unnecessary information
We showed you a photo of some cars going over a bridge, and we asked you to spot changes in the same photo later in the test. This question tested visual delayed recall.
You didn't spot the change.
To test delayed recall thoroughly, we'd really have to ask you a lot more than one question. We just wanted to give people the chance to exercise this aspect of their memory.
We are remarkably bad at remembering details from scenes like this. It is difficult to remember details that seem unimportant at the time. For example, if we told you that a car was going to be removed from a photo, you’d have less trouble spotting the change. But you had to try and remember everything, which is much harder.
While our ability to remember subtle changes in a scene isn't particularly good, our ability to remember entire scenes is actually rather good as long as each scene is very different. Researchers have reported that people who were shown up to 10,000 different pictures could recognise 90% of them when they were mixed with pictures they had not seen before.
Part 7: Sentences – working memory span
You answered true or false about a series of sentences and tried to remember the final word order. This is a test of what psychologists call 'working memory for processing plus storage'. This means that you had to think logically about a series of sentences (true or false) and then remember the order of the final words in the sentences. You had to think and remember at the same time.
The test also measured how quickly you clicked true and false. The scientists want to know whether the speed that people can respond (the processing time) is related to their memory capacity. They are also interested in whether your answers to the questions (in part ten) on exercise and mental activities (eg crosswords) are related to how quickly people can decide true or false and their working memory capacity.
To remember the final words, most people work back through the true and false questions they answered. It becomes more difficult to answer as the number of sentences increases. The largest number of sentences you were able answer correctly gives your limit or 'span' for this type of memory.
You were able to remember the final words of 2 sentences at once, in the correct order. If you got two wrong in a row, the test stopped. The test goes up to 6 sentences.
Part 8: Man and ball – spatial manipulation in working memory
Holding the image of the man in your mind, rotating it and understanding it tested your spatial memory.
You had to form and rotate a mental image of the man and say which of his hands held the blue ball.
You managed to answer 10 question correctly out of 11 in 30 seconds.
This type of memory is useful in many sports, when packing a car with boxes, imagining what your room would look like with the furniture rearranged, or planning a route using a map. Previous studies using tests similar to this one have found that men are statistically better at this type of activity than women.
Women tend to do better with tests of verbal memory. For example, if we asked you to think of words associated with the word 'canary' (yellow, feathers, bird etc), it is predicted that women would score slightly higher, on average.
Scientists are still debating the reasons for these differences.
Part 9: Remembering to do things
The 16-question survey you answered tested different aspects of your memory.
Memory for the past (retrospective) versus memory for the future (prospective)
Your answers suggest that your ability to remember events from the past is better than your ability to remember to do things that you had planned to do. You might find it helpful to keep a calendar to remind you of future meetings and appointments.
You have seen one of four different versions to remind you to click the smiley face. The scientists are going to study how types of instruction affect our memory to do things.
Smiley face
As an additional test of your memory for future plans, we asked you to click a smiley face at the end of the test. What we didn't tell you is that there are four versions of this question. For example, some people were told in advance what the smiley looks like, while others weren't. The scientist who designed this test wants to see how the different ways of asking you to click the smiley affect your memory for things that you plan to do in the future. [edit: I didn't click it, although I didn't forget, but I just thought I could go back, because I wanted to see my results first! X'D ... only, I couldn't go back.. =X]
Long-term versus short-term (or working-) memory
The 16-question survey asked what you think about your ability for long-term memory and working memory (sometimes called short-term memory).
Your answers suggest that you're equally good at keeping track of what you are doing moment to moment and remembering things over longer periods of time. For example, you might be a whiz in the kitchen and easily remember to set the rice cooking at the right time, as well as remembering that you'd planned to meet your partner at the train station at 7pm.
Cued versus uncued memory
The survey also assessed whether you need a reminder to do something you've planned.
Your answers suggest you're better at remembering if you can see something to remind you. For example, if you left a plastic carrier bag by the door or next to your car keys then you would be more likely to remember to reuse the bag when you go to the supermarket.
Part 10: Lifestyle questions
Smoking and drinking
Scientists have already shown that smoking damages health and drinking alcohol slows down our response time, even within the legal limit for driving. Drinking enough to make you drunk affects your memory for what you were doing when drunk and can also affect your memory the morning after. So, if you're living this kind of life and want to improve your memory, you should consider cutting down.
Drinking to excess on a regular basis can lead to long-term brain damage and serious, permanent memory problems, but we do not yet know whether smoking or less excessive drinking affects memory.
The scientists who designed this test are interested in whether your smoking and drinking habits are related to how well you did on the various memory tests and they'll be looking at whether even moderate drinking and smoking affects memory.
[edit: I'm neither a drinker or smoker, so they have one for the 'clean' list! XD]
'Use it or lose it'
It's already well known that physical exercise can improve health and there is some evidence that doing mental activity such as crosswords can keep your brain active. The scientists will look at all the results from 'Explore your memory' to determine whether memory improves if we do physical exercise and just how much benefit people gain from regular mental activity.
Even before the results of the test have been analysed, enough is known already to recommend that you should adopt a 'use it or lose it' approach and make sure that you spend some of your time doing mentally stimulating things.
-END OF RESULTS-
^^ Araso~ I will do brain training! XD
I already do though.. Sudoku is considered brain activity.. but I also write stories (think out plots and twists) which should be called 'brain sports' too, right? =P
So, that was my EHMB - The memory!
Anyway, me and my brain are quite tired now, plus we want to write a story... XD
Byebye for now~!
Annyoung~! ♥
Here's the test, for anyone who's interested: CLICK HERE!
~~~~~X~~~x~~~X~~~~~
*~Maria
