Constantly taking photos stops brain from remembering moment... - dubbed 'photo-taking impairment effect' -
Taking a photo may seem like the most obvious way to remember a special occasion, but it could in fact be causing significant damage to your memory.
Researchers from Connecticut asked a group of students to recall what items in a museum looked like.
Those who had taken photos of the artefacts struggled to describe the objects, while those who hadn’t, remembered them more clearly.
Dr Linda Henkel, from Fairfield University, who ran the study, calls this phenomenon ‘photo-taking impairment effect’.
Dr Henkel is currently investigating whether the content of a photo, such as whether a person is in it, for example, affects memory.
Some cases, for example, have found people think they remember a certain event, such as a childhood party, but may be confusing actual memories with memories from a photograph.
To test this, Dr Henkel led a group of university students on a tour of an art museum in Connecticut.
Participants were asked to either photograph items as they walked around the museum, or told to remember certain objects.
Participants were directed to take pictures of particular objects while ignoring others and the next day their memory was tested.
Following the tests, data showed people were less accurate in recognising the objects they had photographed compared to those they had only looked at. Furthermore, their memory of detail for the objects they had photographed was poorer.
If participants took a photo of each object as a whole, they remembered fewer objects and remembered fewer details about the objects, including their locations within the museum.
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Taking a photo may seem like the most obvious way to remember a special occasion, but it could in fact be causing significant damage to your memory.
Researchers from Connecticut asked a group of students to recall what items in a museum looked like.
Those who had taken photos of the artefacts struggled to describe the objects, while those who hadn’t, remembered them more clearly.
Dr Linda Henkel, from Fairfield University, who ran the study, calls this phenomenon ‘photo-taking impairment effect’.
Dr Henkel is currently investigating whether the content of a photo, such as whether a person is in it, for example, affects memory.
Some cases, for example, have found people think they remember a certain event, such as a childhood party, but may be confusing actual memories with memories from a photograph.
To test this, Dr Henkel led a group of university students on a tour of an art museum in Connecticut.
Participants were asked to either photograph items as they walked around the museum, or told to remember certain objects.
Participants were directed to take pictures of particular objects while ignoring others and the next day their memory was tested.
Following the tests, data showed people were less accurate in recognising the objects they had photographed compared to those they had only looked at. Furthermore, their memory of detail for the objects they had photographed was poorer.
If participants took a photo of each object as a whole, they remembered fewer objects and remembered fewer details about the objects, including their locations within the museum.
Read more: -
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