Recall ability improves by repeating speech aloud to someone
People would recall information better by repeating speech aloud when talking to another person, a new study shows. Communicating aloud to someone has been proven to help a person improve information recall due to the connection of the vocal cord's vibration to the brain.
Previous studies show that when people speak, the movement of the mouth and feeling the vocal cords vibrate help create a sensory and motor reference in the brain. The produced sensory aspects can help a person have more efficient recall of the information, researchers said.
The new study, to be published in the Consciousness and Cognition journal, found that talking to someone allows the brain to work on multisensory information associated with communication. The sensory aspects produced during a communication helps the person to better retain the information in the memory.
For the study, 44 French-speaking university students were asked to read a series of words on a screen. The participants wore headphones to prevent them from hearing their voice.
Professor Victor Boucher of the University of Montreal's Department of Linguistics and Translation, and Alexis Lafleur, a doctoral student in neuropsychology, gave four experimental conditions. First is to repeat the words in their head, and then silently while moving their lips, followed by repeating aloud while looking at the screen. Last is to repeat the words aloud while talking to someone.
After the tests, Boucher and Lafleur asked the participants to identify the words they can recall. The researchers provided a list that has words not used in the test.
The results show that those who speak aloud in the presence of another person, even without hearing anything, performed better in recalling information. The least effective way to recall was when a person repeats the information only mentally without gesturing.
"The results of our research confirm the importance of motor sensory experiences in memory retention and help to better define sensory episodes associated with verbal expression," Boucher said.
Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au or tell us what you think below
