Strobe-goggle catch boosts memory

Nicola Guttridge, contributor

(Image: Les Todd, Duke Institute for Brain Sciences)

Catch isn't the kind of sport that normally comes with a handicap. However, the new vision-limiting goggles these guys are wearing don't just make the game more interesting - they're testing the effects of visual experience on memory. Weirdly, the goggles seem to help people remember.

The goggles simulate strobe lighting, allowing the wearer to catch only glimpses of what is going on around them. A study led by Greg Appelbaum at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, recruited people to engage in physical activity, such as playing catch, with some wearing the goggles and others donning eyewear with clear lenses.

In order to function normally - and not continually drop the ball - the goggles-wearers needed to adapt the way they processed visual information.

Next came a memory test, in which eight randomly selected letters flashed up on a screen. Following a recall prompt, participants were asked to remember one of these letters. In some trials this prompt came immediately after the letters, but in more challenging ones there was a delay of up to 2.5 seconds, meaning the participants had to keep all eight letters in their memory for longer.

Wearing the strobe goggles seemed to increase a person's ability to retain information - and this boost was still active some 24 hours later.

Earlier work at Duke University had investigated the role of such exercises - known as stroboscopic training - on human cognition. This study builds on this to show that improvements in visual memory may have lasting benefits.

Journal reference: Attention, Perception & Psychophysics DOI: 10.3758/s13414-012-0344-6