A team of US psychologists have found that talking to another person for 10 minutes a day improves memory.
 
A team of US psychologists have found that talking to another person for 10 minutes a day improves memory.

Researchers discovered that "socializing was just as effective as more traditional kinds of mental exercise in boosting memory and intellectual performance," lead author Oscar Ybarra, a psychologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, said in a statement.

In one investigation¹, they analyzed² data on 3,610 people, ages 24 to 96.

They found that the higher their level of social interaction, the better their cognitive³ functioning. Social interaction included getting together or having phone chats with relatives, friends and neighbors.

In another experiment, the researchers conducted lab tests on 76 college students, ages 18 to 21, to assess how social interactions and intellectual exercises affected⁴ the results of memory and mental performance tests.

The students were divided into three groups: The social interaction group had a discussion of a social issue for 10 minutes before taking the tests; the intellectual activities group completed three tasks (including a reading comprehension exercise and a crossword⁵ puzzle) before the tests; and a control group watched a 10-minute clip of the Seinfeld television show.

"We found that short-term social interaction lasting⁶ for just 10 minutes boosted participants' intellectual performance as much as engaging in so-called 'intellectual' activities for the same amount of time," Ybarra said.

The study was expected to be published in the February 2008 issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology⁷ Bulletin.

 
美国心理学家近日发现，每天与人交谈十分钟能够提高记忆力。

该研究报告的的主要撰写者、密歇根大学社会研究所的心理学家奥丝卡•依芭拉在报告中阐述了这一研究发现。她说：“社会交往与传统的思维训练方式对于提高记忆力和智力表现具有同样效果。”

研究人员调查分析了3610名年龄在24岁至96岁之间的研究对象的相关数据。

他们发现，社会交往越多的人认知表现越好。聚会、与亲戚、朋友或邻居进行电话交谈都属于社会交往范畴。

研究人员另外对76名年龄在18岁至21岁间的大学生进行了一项实验室测试，以了解社会交往与智力训练是如何影响他们的记忆效果及智力测试结果的。

研究人员将这些学生分为三组。在测试开始前，“社会交往组”就某一社会问题进行了十分钟的讨论；“智力训练组”完成了三个任务（其中包括一个阅读理解和一个拼字谜）；而对照组则观看了一个十分钟的《宋飞传》剪辑。

依芭拉说：“我们发现，仅十分钟的短期社会交往就能提高研究对象的智力表现，其效果与同等时间的“智力”训练完全相同。”

该研究结果将在明年二月的《个性与社会心理报告》中发表。