Blog Archives
…go your own way
We don’t need a study to tell us that men and women do things differently. Of course, that hasn’t stopped them from happening.
This time around we’re answering that age-old questions: Who’s better at remembering where they parked?
Although the Ashton Kutcher classic “Dude Where’s My Car?” would imply otherwise, in this study men came out just barely ahead of women.
Now before the guys start doing their victory laps around their easily located vehicles may I just say this:
1. The margin was too small to even mention (or the author was smart enough to not include it as fodder for the battle of the sexes that they created)
2. Men and women go about finding their cars differently, making the comparison a little far-fetched to begin with.
I’m not a sore loser, I’m just a reluctant one.
What’s the difference in technique? Men remember distance, women remember landmarks. Men are also barely better at determining distance, where women are way better at remembering landmarks. Just sayin’.
I’m not a sore loser, I’m just a reluctant one. I will not go down without a stream of qualifying statements (they’re not excuses if they’re true and found in the study itself).
With that, I leave you with one stat that is encouraging for both genders: Only 4 percent of study participants needed to use a GPS to find their car.
There is hope for us all! …well 96% of us…
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NBC News: Where’s the car? Men are (a little) better at remembering
…bi-daily smile…
…take a whiff
The power of a smell. It can lure you, repel you, utterly disgust you, clear a room, and so on and so forth. Our noses are some powerful things.
It’s no wonder that smell is the sense most closely linked to memories. Not just memories, but our emotional responses to memories.
More often than not, it’s what we call nostalgia. Apple pie, fresh-cut grass, laundry detergent, chlorine, bleach…apparently I have a lot of disinfected memories.
When you really think about it, it truly is a wonder that the smell of chemicals like chlorine and bleach can bring back some pretty powerful and mostly positive memories (5AM swim practices take a while to reach the state of nostalgia).
But for all that our noses can do for us, there is one thing it seems they may fail us in. Waking us up. A new study has found that smells (primarily smoke) will only wake 2 out of 10 of us.
Due to its peripheral function smell is less than helpful when you’re in deep sleep. So while you may be dreaming of camping trips and BBQ festivals gone-by, the scent will probably not be enough to wake. Good news, the fire alarm probably will.
As the light sleeper in the room I just want you all to know that I will put forth a valiant effort towards rousing you from your nostalgic reveries.
Side Note: In light of the horrific shooting in Colorado yesterday 2WC wishes to send out utmost sympathies and condolences to the victims and their families. We will have more tomorrow as a part of our weekly co-blog.
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“Can Smells Wake Us Up From Deep Sleep?”: MSNBC
“Smells Like Nostalgia: Why Do Scents Bring Back Memories”: MSNBC
…bi-daily smile…
…multitask
…and she can walk at the same time…
Who doesn’t love bubblegum? Seriously. It’s sticky, it’s chewy, it’s usually pink. What’s not to like?
I’m sure we all have fond memories of bubble blowing contests and giant bubble achievements gone horribly wrong (in high school civics class)…or do we? A recent study has found that chewing gum can impair your memory.
The disruption isn’t permanent, but while you’re chewing gum your short-term memory may take a dive towards the goldfish end of the memory pool.
The bright side? You now have a new excuse for memory slips. “Sorry I forgot to grab that thing, but I was chewing gum and you know how my mind wanders when I’m chewing gum.” For heaven’s sake stay away from doorways when you’re munching on your Dubble Bubble. We
all know what those can do to a train of thought.
Makes the proverbial ability to walk and chew gum at the same time, seem more impressive doesn’t it?
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“Weird Memory Drain: Chewing Gum”: MSNBC
…bi-daily smile…
…open a new door
First, think memorable thoughts...
Have you ever walked in to a room with an express purpose, which you of course forgot the moment you arrived? Of course you have. We all have, and a new study shows that you can blame it on your brain and the door.
It turns out that walking through doors makes you forget things. It may have been proven before, but the findings probably got lost somewhere in the hallway.
The very basic explanation of this principle is that your mind perceives a doorway as an “event boundary” and compartmentalizes, so by the time you reach the new space your brain has moved on to a new chapter in your life.
Gives new meaning to the metaphoric opening of a new door. You really do start over every time you step through a new door, or at least your mind does. Of course, you can recall what you were thinking about, but as you probably know it’s not as simple as you would hope.
That’s all well and good, but I’m pretty sure a sharp, steel trap mind can’t be fooled by such barriers as mere doorways. To test this theory and exhibit the power of the mind I’ve decided to blog while working my way through a series of…Where was I?
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“The Boundary Effect: Entering a New Room Makes You Forget Things”: TIME
…bi-daily smile…
Zer
Stephanie
The2Women
