Home
Вход
Регистрация
Практика аудирования
Практика аудирования
/
Video
/
TED-Ed
/
Ever walk into a room and forget what you were doing? - Gabriel Radvansky
Ever walk into a room and forget what you were doing? - Gabriel Radvansky
Выберите режим обучения:
Посмотреть субтитры
Выбрать слово
Переписать слово
Highlight:
3000 Oxford Words
4000 IELTS Words
5000 Oxford Words
3000 Common Words
1000 TOEIC Words
5000 TOEFL Words
Субтитры (77)
0:07
You enter your living room, then pause.
0:11
You feel your mission’s momentum— but its aim is suddenly lost.
0:16
So, what just happened? And why does it keep happening?
0:21
Well, you’re not alone;
0:23
this is actually a common phenomenon scientists have termed the doorway effect.
0:29
According to psychological models,
0:32
our brains parse life’s continuous flow of time and activity into distinct events.
0:39
As a situation unfolds, the brain develops a working model of the event.
0:45
It likely does this by employing its default mode network,
0:50
the brain regions that work together
0:52
to accomplish many resting thought processes.
0:56
Then, when there's a big enough change,
0:59
the brain is thought to identify an event boundary,
1:03
at which point it stores the prior event model,
1:07
and begins developing a new working model.
1:11
During this switch, called an event update,
1:14
parts of the default mode network
1:17
seem to interact with the memory-storing hippocampus,
1:21
perhaps transporting the experience into longer-term memory.
1:26
In the process, the brain clears its short-term memory,
1:30
making room for the new information that’s already pouring in.
1:35
But sometimes that can be stuff you weren't quite done with.
1:40
It’s still not fully clear if the doorway effect,
1:43
also called the location updating effect,
1:47
befalls some people more than others.
1:50
But one study found that age had very little bearing.
1:55
Scientists are working to better understand the phenomenon
1:59
by pinpointing the conditions that trigger it,
2:02
which, yes, includes doorways, both physical and virtual.
2:08
In one study, college students in real and virtual spaces
2:12
were asked to pick up objects, walk set distances carrying them out of view,
2:18
then try to recall what they were holding.
2:22
Time and distance remained constant, but some traveled through a doorway.
2:28
Those who did tended to respond slower and be more likely to forget.
2:34
And passing through multiple doorways
2:36
seems to worsen the memory-thwarting effect.
2:40
It's also not helped by multitasking.
2:44
In another VR experiment,
2:46
participants were first asked to memorize the colors and shapes
2:50
of different objects.
2:52
Then, some moved across the same room while others entered another.
2:58
When they were asked to also complete a counting task,
3:01
those who traveled through the doorway had a harder time
3:05
recalling the original objects.
3:07
Moving through the doorway distracted seemed to somehow overload their memory.
3:13
But the effect plagues people beyond literal doorways.
3:17
Looking through clear walls into adjacent rooms also appears to do the trick.
3:23
And really, whatever triggers an event update is thought to do the same:
3:28
an alarm ringing; a friend changing the subject;
3:32
or a shift in location, time, motivation, or computer tab.
3:37
Likewise, when people come upon an event boundary while reading stories,
3:43
like a sentence describing a considerable time jump,
3:46
researchers have observed that their reading speed may slow,
3:50
their neural activity increases,
3:52
and they have more difficulty answering questions
3:56
about what a character was just doing.
3:59
But this isn't always the case with event updating.
4:03
In certain circumstances, doorways actually seem to aid memory.
4:08
In one study, participants were given lists of words,
4:11
and in between them,
4:12
they either moved spots within one room or walked into another.
4:17
Those who switched rooms wound up recalling the words more faithfully.
4:23
The key difference in a doorway’s ability to strengthen versus muddle memory
4:29
might be the act of separating information into discrete events
4:34
versus sharing it among multiple.
4:37
This may result in clearer compartmentalization
4:40
that helps reduce competition and interference
4:44
when trying to recall the information.
4:46
Generally, event updating is the brain attempting to adapt to new situations.
4:52
But the doorway side effect can be disorienting.
4:57
So, how can we best pick our train of thought back up?
5:02
Thankfully, the confusion tends to resolve on its own.
5:06
But retracing your steps may help jog your memory.
5:09
And people have also suggested that attempts
5:12
at deliberately preventing the doorway effect can help,
5:16
consciously keeping their goal in mind— perhaps repeating it verbally.
5:22
Really, whatever helps you stay caught up so your head doesn’t get ahead of you.
