How do scientists study memory?

There are many methods that scientists can use to study memories!

They generally fall into three categories:

• Asking people what they remember. Sometimes, people are asked about events from their own life. People might be asked to give the first memory that comes to mind in response to a word like “tree” or “party.” Or people might be asked to describe a memory from a part of their life, such as elementary school.

  Other times, people are taught information specifically so that scientists can look at how much they can remember. People might be asked to read 30 words and then to remember as many as they can. No one would be expected to remember all 30 words, but the pattern of forgetting can help to understand how memory works.

• Observing people’s behavior as a way to figure out what they remember. It turns out that if you’ve seen a picture before, your eyes will scan it differently than if you’ve never seen it before. You can also be faster to make a decision about it, like whether it’s an indoor or outdoor scene. And if your brain has realized that a certain image corresponds with when there’s an annoying beep made by the computer, you may have a slight sweating response when you see that image. This means that scientists don’t always have to ask someone whether they remember which pictures they’ve seen — their behavior can give away the answer! This is the distinction between declarative memory (what we can say we remember) and nondeclarative memory (the memory demonstrated in our behavior).

• Measuring brain function. Sometimes, looking at brain function can be another way to find evidence of a memory without asking the person what they remember. The brain looks different if it’s processing something it’s seen or heard before rather than something entirely new.

  Other times, brain function is used along with asking participants what they remember. This can provide important information - like understanding why we are sometimes wrong, and say we’ve seen something we haven’t really seen, or why we' say we haven’t seen something even if some parts of our brain are signaling that they’ve processed this information before.