Say It, Squeeze It, Chew It

Chew some gum, clench your fists, read your grocery list out loud, improve your memory.

Given that the brain controls, from one place, everything we do, it stands to reason that some areas will overlap and even assist one another.

In a simple experiment, Dr. Ruth E. Propper and associates at Montclair State University tested how clenching a rubber ball assisted memory storage and retrieval. Subjects squeezed the ball in their right hands while memorizing a list of words, and then squeezed a ball in their left hands while trying to recall those words. A control group only held the ball without squeezing in their hands. The result: out of thirty six words, hand squeezers were able able to recall more than twice those in the control group.

It’s worth shot, right? Use this technique next time you’re heading to the grocery store, and be sure to add chewing gum to the list.

A study led by Dr. Andrew Scholey at the University of Northumbria (UK) found that test subject who chewed during memory tests performed better than non-chewers. There are a few theories as to why this happens: the rhythm of chewing and sympathetic rhythms in the brain, slightly increased heart rate, or insulin receptors in the hippocampus. But you don’t need to know how a motor works to drive your car, so whatever the reason, popping a stick of gum in your mouth can help with memory.

And even if you don’t have a ball to squeeze or gum to chew, chances are you can still speak out loud.

A handful of scientists reporting in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition described an experiment to test “the production effect,” and found that “producing a word aloud during study, relative to simply reading a word silently, improves explicit memory.” They key, it seems, is not to read the whole list aloud, but just the important parts.

Of course, one man’s important is another man’s easy-to-forget. But if you want to be sure you especially don’t forget squeeze balls and chewing gum when you get to the store, read those parts out loud as you go over your list.