Posted on 05/04/2007 6:57:49 PM PDT by blam
Shifty eyes may be a sign of good memory
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 11:41pm BST 04/05/2007
Moving your eyes from side to side for 30 seconds can boost your power of recall, researchers say.
Horizontal eye wiggles are thought to cause the two hemispheres of the brain to interact more, improving the ability to retrieve memories.
Scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University found people who made horizontal eye movements recognised significantly more previously studied words than subjects who did not make such eye movements. They also had fewer errors in their recall.
Dr Andrew Parker, whose findings are reported in the latest issue of the journal Brain and Cognition, said: "That such a straightforward experimental manipulation can bring about enhanced memory for studied information and lower the number of memory errors is quite exciting."
The work suggests horizontal eye movements could be helping people to remember.
"We are conducting more research to clarify and extend the current findings," Dr Parker said yesterday.
"It may help someone recall an important piece of information for an exam."
This is true. I have a mind like a steel trap, and I frequently shift from side to side, corner to corner, when I am listening intently to something I’m very interested in, rather than keeping eye contact with the person speaking.
Weird.
Hmmmm, I thought horizontal eye movements labeled a person an “audio” and meant they remembered primarily by hearing.
Does this mean Pelosi has alzheimers?
I will look at a person’s face but forget about making eye contact. I think it’s impolite to stare a person in the eyes. Besides that I am an introvert and introverts are not comfortable with eye contact. I do find it harder to focus on what a person is saying when I watch them.
How ‘come the skull is cracked on top? That is creepin’ me out. I don’t want to remember it, so my eyes are not movin.
An Einstein brain and a Stallone Rocky 3 body. Not a bad combination. Can you imagine conversing with such a specimen “E=MC^2...believe it or I’ll knock you senseless.”
That’s weird, I don’t remember replying to this thread.
Of course, that's also what happens when we read.
Great--next time I'm at South Beach with my wife, I'll tell her that I'm trying very, very hard to remember something.
I works this, you move your eyes around till you see the lost item then you remember putting it there.
I thought that shifty eyes were the mark of a lawyer.
I just tried it for a few seconds and now I have a migraine and lost all memory of 3rd grade ... or is it 4th?
Not me. I state straight ahead, and move what I'm reading back and forth. It's a real pain with a computer monitor, let me tell you.
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