If you’re stuck in a community college exam and struggling to drudge up those hard to remember facts then this might be for you; it’s quick, easy... and no-one will be looking at you.
Researchers at the Manchester Metropolitan University asked 102 students to read out lists of 15 words to monitor their memory. The students were split up into one group flicking their eyes from side to side for 30 seconds, another flicking them up and down and a third acting normally (and probably laughing at the first two).
The lists featured several ‘lure’ words which were not included but intended to be imagined as being there because of the similar semantic field of other words; ‘frames’,’ lenses’ and ‘spectacles’ may have been there, for example, but ‘glasses’ would not.
Amazingly, the results showed that those moving their eyes from side to side demonstrated a 10% increase in memory and were 15% better at picking out which words were actually there and which were ‘lures’.
Why did this happen?
Why exactly this works is a bit of a mystery. Previous studies have shown that exercising the whole body can improve memory because it stimulates blood flow to the areas of the brain that are responsible for recollection, and this eye movement may simply be a part of that whole.
Another explanation may be that moving both of our eyes about forces parts of the brain to work together and thus makes us more adept at remembering things. Scientists also comment that eating lots of fish or regularly drinking green tea can improve memory, though it’s probably a bit of a stretch to say that somehow one group got all the tea drinkers.
Will it be useful?
Even researchers behind the study said that in everyday situations they’re not sure whether the idea would work, but that it’s ‘worth a shot’.
In reality much more research is needed into how our brain recalls memories, and the link between our eyes and how it does so is mostly speculative. As well as this, the concept at the moment seems to rely on creating bridges between the two hemispheres of the brain, but those who are very left handed already have a strong link – does this mean that the idea is useless to them? There are quite a number of grey areas.
That said, the next time you find yourself having walked upstairs and completely forgotten what you went up for, it might be worth flicking your eyes about a bit – it certainly won’t do any harm.
About The Author:
Rob likes to write about research and development for DirectSight - a leading destination to buy glasses online.