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MEMORY AND SOCIAL INTERACTION |
Why you must talk to stay sharp
7 November, 2007
Talking for at least 10 minutes
face to face or over telephone
improves memory as well as
intellectual performance.
A new study has found that short-term
social interaction boosts intellectual
performance of people as much as
engaging in the so-called intellectual
activities such as crossword puzzles
for the same length of time, according
to a report in the science portal
ScienceDaily. The study report is also
to be published in the February 2008
issue of the Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin.
The first phase one of the study was a
survey that measured, among other
things, the level of social
interaction for each person. Those who
had higher levels of social
interactions – such s talking over the
phone or in person with friends,
neighbors and relatives – fared better
on a short test of mental function.
This was true for all age groups.
The research team led by Oscar Ybarra,
a psychologist at the University of
Michigan, the United States, asked
over 3,500 people aged 24 to 96 about
their social interactions and tested
their working memories.
It was found that, regardless of age,
the more social contact, the higher
the level of mental function.
In the second phase of the study, the
researchers divided 76 college
students into three groups: one group
had a 10-minute discussion, another
group spent 10 solitary minutes doing
intellectual exercises (such as
reading comprehension), and the third
group, in isolation, watched 10
minutes of the television show
Seinfeld.
On follow-up cognitive tests, the
groups that performed social
interaction and intellectual exercise
did better than those who watched
Seinfeld. Those who chit-chatted also
did as well as the intellectual group.
Oscar Ybarra said: “There is a
widespread belief in this culture that
the way to maintain your sharpness is
to do technical and intellectual
activities, but this study suggests an
alternative to Sudoku or crosswords
could be simply talking to one
another.”
Social interaction, Oscar Ybarra
concluded, directly affected memory
and intellectual performance in a
positive way.
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