‘Sense of purpose is associated with better memory, says study

‘Sense of purpose is associated with better memory, says study

12.10.2021

Times of India Hyderabad

A new study, led by Florida State University researchers, has shown a link between an individual’s sense of purpose and their ability to recall vivid details.

The findings of the study were published in the journal Memory. The researchers found that while both a sense of purpose and cognitive function made memories easier to recall, only a sense of purpose bestowed the benefits of vividness and coherence.The study focused on memories related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 800 study participants reported on their sense of purpose and completed tasks that measured their cognitive processing speed in January and February 2020, before the ongoing coronavirus pandemic took hold in the US Researchers then measured participants’ ability to retrieve and describe personal memories about the pandemic in July 2020, several months into the public health crisis.

Participants with a stronger sense of purpose in life reported that their memories were more accessible, coherent and vivid than participants with less purpose. Those with a higher sense of purpose also reported many sensory details, spoke about their memories more from a first-person perspective and reported more positive feelings and less negative feelings when asked to retrieve a memory.

The researchers also found that depressive symptoms had little effect on the ability to recall vivid details in memories, suggesting that the connection between life purpose and memory recall is not due to the fewer depressive symptoms among individuals higher in purpose.

— IANS