To Improve Recall Match Posture With Memory, Study
Christopher Philip
Researchers Katinka Dijkstra and colleagues Department of Psychology, Florida State University, have found evidence that holding body postures that match memory are recalled faster than when postures are mismatched.
It’s been previously shown that matching the context to a memory leads to improved recall. In other words, if you learn something in a particular location, revisiting that location or being in a similar location, facilitates your brain’s ability to remember the learned experience.
Posture with respect to recall has also had some previous support. A set of subjects were instructed put on a smile while in an upright erect position as they recalled pleasant and unpleasant experiences in their lives. The other set was told to use a downcast expression with their head and neck bowed and their body slumped. The study found that those who matched their expressions to their emotional state, that is, they were congruent, performed much better than those who didn’t.
In another study, when people learned nonsense syllables, those who matched the posture while learning, tended to recall the material upon recall more easily, than those who didn’t.
Embodiment of Memory Recall
How the brain works to produce recall is not well understood, but we do know that there are more than just specific places in the brain that produce recall. In fact, it is likely that there are a bunch of locations in the brain corresponding to specific memories.
For example, as Damasio (1999) notes:
“The brain forms memories in a highly distributed manner. Take, for instance, the memory of a hammer. There is no single place in our brain where we will find an entry with the word hammer followed by a dictionary definition of what a hammer is. Instead…there are a number of records in our brain that correspond to different aspects of our past interaction with hammers: their shape, the typical movement with which we use them, the hand shape and hand motion required to manipulate the hammer, the result of the action, the word that designates it in whatever many languages we know (p. 220).
The notion of “embodiment” of cognition says that motor system, the muscles, joints, bones, and so forth work with the brain to produce specific pathways in an integrated fashion – the body as a total unit. This is thought to be a powerful factor in memory and recall as well as emotion.
They theory of embodiment says that if a certain body position is assumed during an experience, then repeating the position during recall will facilitate memory retrieval.
The Current Study
The study looked at posture with respect to recall in both young adults as well as older adults (mean age 70).
Recall of memory included events such as (1) going to the dentist office, (2) playing sports, (3) opening the door for a visitor, (4) going to a concert and clapped their hands, (5) waving at someone, (6) placing their hand on their heart. Additional events that were not posture dependent were added to confuse the participants as to the aim of the study including (7) a memory of an event that happened yesterday and (8) an imaginary event.
The experimenters, in one condition matched posture with memory recall. For example, when the subjects were asked to recall going to the dentist, they were permitted to lie down on a recliner. In the other condition, the body position was mismatched, thus for the same dentist recall task, another set of participants were told to hold their hands on their hips. When recalling sports memory, the participants took up sports related body positions. The same was done for the other memory tasks.
Results showed that response times were shorter when body position matched the events the subjects were asked to recall. Therefore body congruency helped the subjects recall memory and incongruent body postures hindered memory recall.
Drawing Conclusions And Producing Applications
Physically matching body posture during memory recall with the specific memory as it was produced, helps people retrieve memory. This supports the idea that the brain and body are linked, so called “embodiment.”
Bodies and brains are interconnected and repeating the environment that a memory is created assists the brain in recall.
The take-away message is quite clear. If you want to remember information for a test or relive a childhood memory, taking on the stance in which you created the memory through body posture, will help you recover the memory more efficiently.
If you learned material for an exam, it is important to retell the material in the same setting, with the same posture. In short, material learned while standing versus learned material while sitting may not be recalled well if it is retold in incongruent settings and postures. Therefore, when recalling memory is crucial, be sure to match, as best possible, the physical posture you are likely to be situated in while learning the material as you are when asked to recall.
Image Credit: lehman_11
Resources
Dijkstra, Katinka; Michael P. Kaschak; and Rolf A. Zwaan. Body Posture Facilitates Retrieval of Autobiographical Memories. Cognition. 2007; 102: 139-149.
Riskind, J. H. Nonverbal Expressions and the Accessibility of Life Experience Memories: A Congruence Hypothesis. Social Cognition. 1983. 2: 62-86.
Rand, G., and Wapner, S. Postural Status as a Factor in Memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior. 1967. 6: 268-271.