Keeping Current 6 Coaching World
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Getting the Picture
Some may argue that pausing to photograph an experience makes it less enjoyable , but new research published by the American Psychological Association suggests otherwise .
“ To the best of our knowledge , this research is the first extensive investigation examining how taking photos affects people ’ s enjoyment of their experiences ,” wrote Kristin Diehl , Ph . D ., of the University of Southern California ; Gal Zauberman , Ph . D ., of Yale University ; and Alixandra Barasch , Ph . D ., of the University of Pennsylvania . “ We show that , relative to not taking photos , photography can heighten enjoyment of positive experiences by increasing engagement .”
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More than 2,000 individuals participated in the study . In each of the nine total experiments , individuals were instructed to either take photos or refrain from doing so while participating in a specific activity , such as taking a bus tour . Afterward , everyone completed a survey that was designed to measure both enjoyment and engagement levels . Those who took photographs seemed to be more focused on and engaged in the activity than those who did not .
Behavioral evidence supported this idea as well . For instance , participants took a self-guided museum exhibit tour while wearing glasses that tracked their eye movements . For those taking photos , their attention
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focused on visual aspects most relevant to the experience rather than on an overall observation .
Researchers also found that phototaking can decrease enjoyment , but only in already unpleasant situations . For example , in one of the experiments , participants went on a virtual safari , and many had a negative reaction when watching a pride of lions attack a water buffalo . The photo-takers reported lower levels of enjoyment than non-photo-takers .
There were instances of when phototaking had no effect , like when a participant was already actively engaged in an experience or when photo-taking interfered with the experience itself , such as lugging around bulky camera equipment .
As a coach , consider assigning phototaking as homework for those clients who don ’ t take the time to slow down and experience what is going on around them . See if clients report more enjoyment . “ Mental pictures ” are acceptable , too , and were found to have the same effect as taking photos with a camera .
The study was published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology .
— Lisa Cunningham
Positive Experiences Now Can Improve Later Learning
Can being rewarded today improve our memory tomorrow ? According
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to a new study , adding a positive emotional experience to learning now can improve our ability to remember similar events in the future .
Researchers from the Cognition and Brain Plasticity research group of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute ( IDIBELL ) and the University of Barcelona were interested in the effect of emotion on memory . According to Javiera Oyarzún , one of the study ’ s authors , the brain “ works as a sorting machine ,” separating incoming information into categories like people , animals and objects .
It is already known that emotionally charged experiences are remembered better than neutral ones , so in their study , researchers wanted to find out if an emotionally positive event could increase the brain ’ s ability to remember a similar future event .
In the first session of the study , volunteers were shown a series of images in two categories ( animals and objects ). They were given a financial reward when they were shown images from one of the categories , but not the other . The participants were then asked to remember the images . As one might expect , the participants were better able to remember the items associated with the reward .
In their second session , the volunteers were shown a new set of images . This time , they were told there would be no reward given for either group . In this situation , the subjects remembered the previously rewarding images better . They also remembered images in the same semantic category as the rewarding images , despite knowing they weren ’ t associated with a reward .
“ Emotion is a direct gateway into memory storage ,” study coauthor Dr . Lluís Fuentemilla , Ph . D ., said . “ Therefore , we can bias the acquisition of present and future memories based on the incorporation of emotional content thanks to our brain ’ s ability to integrate information .”
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