Pokémon Aficionados Help Scientists Prove Practice Makes Perfect
Language
Reading Level
Listen to Article
Avid Pokémon video and card game fans were recently called upon to use their expertise for an unusual task – to help scientists understand the inner workings of the brain. Specifically, Weiwei Zhang, an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside, wanted to learn the connection between the short-term — or working memory — and long-term memory.
According to the researcher, while the human brain’s ability to store information is infinite, accessing it can be a little tricky. That’s because the working memory, which, enables us to learn and retain data for short periods of time, has a limited capacity. Too much information causes what Zhang refers to as a “bottleneck,” or a traffic-jam, limiting cognitive abilities like creativity. He was curious to see if one could boost or supplement this limited range with help from the long-term memory.
To test this, Zhang and his co-researcher, graduate student Weizhen Xie, enlisted a group of Pokémon aficionados. The university students, who had grown up playing the game, were more familiar with its first generation characters such as Pikachu, Squirtle, and Charmander than the more recent, fifth-generation Pokémon.
The researchers began by asking study participants to name their favorite characters and explain why they were special. This enabled them to assess each student’s familiarity with the game. The test group was then shown five randomly selected characters, a mix of old and new Pokémon, for half a second each and asked to retain the images in their working memories for one second. In the final experiment, each participant was shown a single Pokémon character and asked to identify if it belonged to the first or fifth generation.
An analysis of the results showed that those more familiar with Pokémon characters before the study, were not only able to easily recall the characters they knew but also more proficient at identifying ones they had just been introduced to. In other words, the better they knew the first-generation Pokémon characters, the more they were able to remember the series of characters in the short-term, whether old or new.
Zhang, who published the findings in the Journal, Memory and Cognition in December 2016, says, “These results suggest that long-term memory, specifically familiarity, could boost working memory capacity, another example of 'practice makes perfect.”
Of course, the research has greater value than showing someone can identify and remember Patrat and Watchog. The scientist believes it has important implications for academics, saying, “For example, those preparation courses for MCAT or SAT may have familiarized their students with the testing procedure and the scope of assessments such that the students could perform better simply because they had a better working memory for the testing materials." So the next time your teacher or parent asks you to practice before an exam, do not resist – it will go a long way in helping you achieve your goals!
Resources: sciencedaily.com, zmescience.com, ucrtoday.ucr.edu
Cite Article
Learn Keywords in this Article
785 Comments
- skylandonover 3 yearsI love Mew its so cute the mew and mewtwo card in pokemon is so funny
- skylandonover 3 yearsI have 6086 Pokemon cards that because i go to tournaments and play the card a i gamble them to friend and gain too much.
- aimeexl_loverover 3 yearsLike and reply if Serena should return
- thenapdragonabout 3 yearsIf you want to see Serena she is in Pokemon The Series: XY
- pangjangover 3 yearsI'm pretty sure she does
- aimeexl_loverover 3 yearsI watch the anime
- coolman78almost 4 yearsI have 7,004 pokemon cards
- poke_lover_kidabout 3 yearsMan that's a lot Wow
- tourmalineskiesalmost 4 yearsMy fav legendarys are mew and articono, the ice bird
- bulbavegiealmost 4 yearsi also like munchlax. he is snorlaxes baby version
- bulbavegiealmost 4 yearsi have lots of legendary pokemon on pokemon go. my faves are mew, mewtwo and ho-oh
- lolatheutealmost 4 yearsSnoreLax is the cutest thing ever period 😁
- lolatheutealmost 4 yearsMy favorite Pokemon is Charizard! I also have a ton of Pokemon cards including a Shiny Eevee. I also play Pokemon Go. Follow me if you collect cards or play Pokemon Go 😊
- chien-pao9 monthsi play go and collect cards
- poke_lover_kidabout 3 yearsMy favorite pokemon is Zacian or Cinderace or Calyrex.
- willow277227 daysI love zacian that's my first favorite lengdary Pokemon!!!
- coolman78almost 4 yearsMy favorite Pokemon is Charizard! I also have a ton of Pokemon cards . I also play Pokemon Go. Follow me if you collect cards or play Pokemon Go
- bulbavegiealmost 4 yearsme too! my favourite card in my collection is my Japanese tag team.