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Thumbnail of 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

IntermediateAmerican accentAnimated lesson5 min

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Transcript: 49 sentences

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  1. 0:07 You enter your living room, then pause.
  2. 0:11 You feel your mission’s momentum - but its aim is suddenly lost.
  3. 0:17 So, what just happened?
  4. 0:18 And why does it keep happening?
  5. 0:21 Well, you’re not alone; this is actually a common phenomenon scientists have termed the doorway effect.
  6. 0:30 According to psychological models, our brains parse life’s continuous flow of time and activity into distinct events.
  7. 0:40 As a situation unfolds, the brain develops a working model of the event.
  8. 0:46 It likely does this by employing its default mode network, the brain regions that work together to accomplish many resting thought processes.
  9. 0:57 Then, when there's a big enough change, the brain is thought to identify an event boundary, at which point it stores the prior event model,
  10. 1:07 and begins developing a new working model.
  11. 1:11 During this switch, called an event update, parts of the default mode network seem to interact with the memory-storing hippocampus,
  12. 1:22 perhaps transporting the experience into longer-term memory.
  13. 1:27 In the process, the brain clears its short-term memory, making room for the new information that’s already pouring in.
  14. 1:36 But sometimes that can be stuff you weren't quite done with.
  15. 1:40 It’s still not fully clear if the doorway effect, also called the location updating effect, befalls some people more than others.
  16. 1:50 But one study found that age had very little bearing.
  17. 1:55 Scientists are working to better understand the phenomenon by pinpointing the conditions that trigger it,
  18. 2:02 which, yes, includes doorways, both physical and virtual.
  19. 2:08 In one study, college students in real and virtual spaces were asked to pick up objects, walk set distances carrying them out of view,
  20. 2:18 then try to recall what they were holding.
  21. 2:22 Time and distance remained constant, but some traveled through a doorway.
  22. 2:28 Those who did tended to respond slower and be more likely to forget.
  23. 2:34 And passing through multiple doorways seems to worsen the memory-thwarting effect.
  24. 2:41 It's also not helped by multitasking.
  25. 2:44 In another VR experiment, participants were first asked to memorize the colors and shapes of different objects.
  26. 2:52 Then, some moved across the same room while others entered another.
  27. 2:58 When they were asked to also complete a counting task, those who traveled through the doorway had a harder time recalling the original objects.
  28. 3:08 Moving through the doorway distracted seemed to somehow overload their memory.
  29. 3:14 But the effect plagues people beyond literal doorways.
  30. 3:18 Looking through clear walls into adjacent rooms also appears to do the trick.
  31. 3:24 And really, whatever triggers an event update is thought to do the same: an alarm ringing; a friend changing the subject;
  32. 3:32 or a shift in location, time, motivation, or computer tab.
  33. 3:38 Likewise, when people come upon an event boundary while reading stories, like a sentence describing a considerable time jump,
  34. 3:46 researchers have observed that their reading speed may slow, their neural activity increases, and they have more difficulty answering questions
  35. 3:56 about what a character was just doing.
  36. 3:59 But this isn't always the case with event updating.
  37. 4:03 In certain circumstances, doorways actually seem to aid memory.
  38. 4:08 In one study, participants were given lists of words, and in between them, they either moved spots within one room or walked into another.
  39. 4:18 Those who switched rooms wound up recalling the words more faithfully.
  40. 4:24 The key difference in a doorway’s ability to strengthen versus muddle memory might be the act of separating information into discrete events
  41. 4:34 versus sharing it among multiple.
  42. 4:37 This may result in clearer compartmentalization that helps reduce competition and interference when trying to recall the information.
  43. 4:47 Generally, event updating is the brain attempting to adapt to new situations.
  44. 4:53 But the doorway side effect can be disorienting.
  45. 4:57 So, how can we best pick our train of thought back up?
  46. 5:02 Thankfully, the confusion tends to resolve on its own.
  47. 5:06 But retracing your steps may help jog your memory.
  48. 5:10 And people have also suggested that attempts at deliberately preventing the doorway effect can help, consciously keeping their goal in mind - perhaps repeating it verbally.
  49. 5:22 Really, whatever helps you stay caught up so your head doesn’t get ahead of you.

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