Two heads aren't always better than one, at least when it comes to memory。
People who memorize facts in groups remember less than solo students do, according to a newly research. The group as a whole remembers more than any single memorizer would have, but the people in the group fail to live up to their full memory potential, each recalling less than if they'd studied alone。
On the other hand, according to study researcher Supama Rajaram, a psychologist at Stony Brook University in New York, other people's memories can enrich our own, as can be attested by anyone who suddenly recalls a long-ago event when another person starts telling a story。
One way people in groups tend to disrupt each other's memories is by encroaching on other's study habits. Everyone has preferred methods of picking information out of their minds, so working with others can be distracting. And then there's a phenomenon called "social contagion," in which one group member brings up an error or "remembers" something that didn't happen. Those erroneous memories can lodge in other group members' brains as real。
The overview appears in the April edition of the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science。