Mind

"Believing age affects memory. A self-fulfilling prophesy ?

Older people who believe that memory loss goes hand in hand with aging may be underminding their own performance, a new study says... The study, which appears in Experimental Aging Research, was led by Thomas M. Hess of North Carolina State University. The researchers worked with about 100 adults in two age groups, 60 to 70 and 71 to 82. Participants were asked to do a series of tests involving arithmetic and memorisation. For some test-takers, the researchers set out to plant in their minds the idea that their age might affect their performance. They told them the test was being used to examin the effects of age on memory. They also asked the volunteers to write down their age right before taking the test. The study found that members of this group did worse than those in the other group. The explanation may be that these participants, newly getting used to the idea of being "older", were more susceptible to suggestions that their age might make them do worse, the researchers said." in The Global Edition of The New-York Times. Thursday, April 30, 2009.
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Andando nell'aereo, ho letto questa novella che mi ha fatto cosi piacere che scrivo presto per ricordarvi il vostro età, siete forse dopo sessant'anni ? Avevo già capito dal lungo, ascoltando i pazienti dell'ospitale, come la performanza e la memoria potevano essere varie e variabile, vero. Adesso possiamo pensare veramente cosi, vivete soltanto secondo il pensiero dell'età che vogliete avere !

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Riprendo l'aereo per leggere l'ultima novella del New-York Times !