The Influence of Taking Photos on Memory - Assignment Example

Effect of Photography The article under consideration in d “Point-and-Shoot Memories: The Influence of Taking Photos on Memory for a Museum Tour”. The author of the article is considered to be Linda Henkel who is a profitable psychologist in the field of cognition in Fairfield University. The article is taken from the scholarly source, particularly from journal “Psychological Science” that is dated 2014 year. The author discusses the influence of the making photos on people’s memory. Particular examination of the literature together with personal interferences is included into the article. In this work Linda Henkel represents the background information concerning the discussed question, hypothesis due to the experiment, particular description of the research, the accurate results of the investigation and appropriate remarks related to the problem. It is admitted that taking photos is a usual process of people nowadays. Moreover, it is suggested that people has taken “more than 3 billion photos in 2012 and that 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook each day” (Henkel, 2014). To such extend, it can be argued that photography plays an essential role in the life of every person nowadays. However, the psychological investigations in this field are not large (Henkel, 2014). It is mentioned that a number of psychologists develop some researches due to the question of effect of photography on the memory of a person (Henkel, 2014). The matter is that reviewing photos has a positive impact on people’s memory, as the process of looking on some photos helps to recollect some important events from people’s life (Henkel, 2014). Moreover, people take pictures of essential moments from their experience in order to remember them. Some investigations have been made with the photos that people make during the ordinary day, and after a few months they can easily distinguish their photos from the unknown ones (Henkel, 2014). Such situation shows the positive implementation of photography into the memory of a person. The hypothesis is ambiguous in this particular situation. The matter is that people intends to fix some moments from their life and save them in photos. As the dimension of this problem relates to mostly significant events or things for this or that person, it is natural that the recognition in memory is high (Henkel, 2014). Also, it is admitted that person commits to memory things that he/she has performed than the observed ones (Henkel, 2014). On the other hand, it is suggested that taking photos may have “a detrimental impact” on people’s memory (Henkel, 2014). The point is that making photos demands attention and this process may distract person from the particular event (Henkel, 2014). Thereby, the particular experiment shows the concrete results of this investigation. The psychologist chooses two groups of people for further research. The matter is that author has decided to complete two experiments for the better understanding of a particular problem. To such extent, two different groups have been formed. The first group consists of 28 undergraduates with the age range from 18 to 23 (Henkel, 2014). The mean age is considered to be 19.41 years (Henkel, 2014). 6 men and 21 women have been included to the particular group. The second group consists of 46 undergraduates with the mean age 19.78 (Henkel, 2014). It has been possible to observe 10 men and 36 women in this group (Henkel, 2014). The participants are considered to have similar features concerning the age and education peculiarities. Still, groups experienced different tasks in order to widen the field of investigation. Researcher chooses young and energetic people with no violations in the area of memory. The practical part of the experiment consists of the guided tour to the Bellarmine Museum of Art. Participants have been in need to observe the 30 objects from this museum in the first experiment and 27 objects in the second one (Henkel, 2014). The objects are considered to be different, such as pictures, sculptures, pottery, tools, jewels and mosaics (Henkel, 2014). According to the first experiment participants have been in need to make photos of the 15 objects and just to observe the other 15 ones (Henkel, 2014). All the objects have been randomly assigned to people. They have an opportunity to read the names of the object and to observe them for the 30 seconds; 20 seconds has been given for the items they need to photo and 10 seconds for the process of making picture (Henkel, 2014). Participants have been in need to take a whole picture of the object presented to them. At the next day these people need to cover a number of tests for the completing the experiment. That is remained to be a free-recall test that demands to write the names of the objects they observed. The second one is name-recognition test that adds 10 new names to the given objects and asks to indicate the objects into particular groups, such as objects they have taken a photo, objects they have observed and new objects. In the second experiment participants have been offered to observe the object for the uninterrupted 25 seconds and have additional time for making pictures of concrete photos (Henkel, 2014). One more change consists in the way of making photos. The matter is that participants have been in need to take a photo by zooming of a one specified part of it (Henkel, 2014). Such experiment investigates the ability to concentrate attention on details. At the next day all the participants complete the name-recognition test. Moreover, some additional questions have been given concerning the objects that have been zooming. Participants have been in need to dwell on the details of these objects. After the particular examination of the data it has been admitted that the remembering of visual objects has been negatively influenced by the photographing (Henkel, 2014). It is admitted that “recognition accuracy” is considered to be lower for the photographed objects and forms 88%, while the same number for observed objects is 91% (Henkel, 2014). The result is higher with the photo-recognition test; still, they are almost the same. The second experiment shows that people can better memorize objects by using zooming and making photo of a part of the picture (Henkel, 2014). Still, the process of observing photos contains the highest results (Henkel, 2014). To such extent, it is relevant to admit that photographing does not improve the process of memorizing things. Referring to the terms of hypothesis it is relevant to admit that Linda Henkel suggests a right idea concerning this problem. The photographing may be useful when people take pictures of important things. Still, such process has a detrimental impact on the memorizing objects. The observing is more effective due to this particular experiment. The strong differences between people’s memory and cameras memory are presented through the article. In addition, it is admitted that participants follow the proper directions of making a photo or just observing the object (Henkel, 2014). It is suggested that results may be different in the situation when people have to make a photos by their own desire. Therefore, it will be relevant to perform such kind of experiment in the future researches. Taking all facts under consideration, it should be admitted that the discussed research develops highly interesting and relevant problem. The matter is that modern technologies allow people to make photos of different types and styles. People use the digital photography every day in different spheres. Given article represents accurate and clear information about the experiment that shows the effect of photography on people’s memory. The information includes references to the different previous researches, develops the hypothesis and constructs experiments due to the problem. The results are accurately analyzed and presented in the article. Reference List: Henkel, L.A. (2014). Point-and-Shoot Memories: The Influence of Taking Photos on Memory for a Museum Tour. Psychological Science, Vol. 25 (3). Read More