Information Accessibility, Neural Context & Affected Memory. Yeah, that’s right.

First off, sorry – this was supposed to be a funny post. That the last thing I wrote was not very entertaining; in fact, it even had a division sign. That’s just not very fun.

However, I thought of something worth sharing, so I’m just gonna throw it out there.

But first, something that is a little bit funny. Generally in Bulgaria, when you order ‘coffee,’ you don’t get a cup of coffee, but instead you get espresso. So if you want coffee, you have to order a ‘long’ coffee [дълго кафе]. When I buy coffee in the afternoon, I get some for my coworkers too. They like the traditional Bulgarian ‘coffee,’ which can also be called short coffee [късно кафе]. Oh, wait – ‘късно’ means ‘later,’ I wanted to say ‘късо.’ I’ve been ordering ‘one long coffee and two later coffees’ for the past month.

But seriously, that’s not very funny. What is funny, is my friend telling his 6^th graders to draw pictures of trees – to draw trees in many colors and shapes. To draw blue ones, and green ones, and brown ones, and to use any color they want to draw trees. However, the word for ‘trees’ is one letter off from the word for ‘erection.’ Yeah, that’s funny.

But anyways, on to the body of the post: Information Accessibility, Neural Context & Affected Memory.

1. The context in which we learn something, or create a memory, affects the strength of the memory. This is so because neurons in our brain create memories by linking together, and more pieces of relevant background information present while learning a fact cause more neural connections to be made, hence stronger memories. This includes the neural context of our inner state, so learning things in a state of relaxation or stress also comes into play with how that knowledge is recalled and used by the brain.
2. Finding a piece of information within .21 seconds [thank you Google], and reading it on a plain white screen with blue letters [or other electronic screens] decreases the background information available to our brain. This decreases the total neural connections that can be created while learning said fact, hence, inhibits the formation of the memory.
3. Think of a time you’ve spent browsing / skimming news or other sites online. An hour after leaving the web, how much do you remember about what you’ve just done?

My neither.

Part of this comes from passing through a lot of news sites, as Community & Organizational Development volunteers often have down time at the start of service. However, a lot of this isn’t just my ailing brain, it’s neurological. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

Studies have shown that people retain less information while reading from screens as opposed to paper, although I don’t know if the concept of background neural context has been considered a cause. Additionally, I don’t know if studies have been done to compare reading on e-book screens [such as on the Kindle] versus computer screens versus paper. It’s hard to access academic studies if you’re not enrolled in a university. Either way, I probably wouldn’t really read them – but naming them and linking to them would make people think that I knew what I was talking about.

It should be noted that although being online creates a different background neural context that is worse for absorbing some information, it may create a better setting to accomplish other things.  If you have thoughts or know of other studies, don’t hesitate to share.

And in case anyone is looking to point out the irony, yes – I learned knowledge required to write this from Google, online, and while giving my neurons a context made up of white screens, blue letters, and coffee. Make that ‘long’ coffee.