Memory can be enhanced by a fake drug

It wasn’t so long ago that we reported the academic study that found that Ginkgo biloba had no effect whatsoever on memory, despite all the claims made for it.

Now another study finds that people taking placebos which they believe will help their memory see a real improvement. Dr. Sophie Parker of Victoria University in New Zealand said: “I was interested in what would happen when people were given an inert substance that they thought had cognitive enhancing properties. We went to great lengths to create a believable story about this so-called drug.

“We set up a fictional pharmaceutical company, a fake website, a promotional DVD and posters for the sham drug.”

The drug was called R273 and was actually Vitamin C powder mixed with water. Three trials were set up using 300 psychology students as guinea-pigs. “People unwittingly acted in ways that improved their memory, responses, concentration” whereas those who were no given the fake drug “showed no real improvement in either retrospective or prospective memory.”

According to Dr. Parker, “In order to monitor sources of information about the past, at to remember future tasks and actions, people can either use a monitoring process or can rely on automatic memory processes…Typically, the more monitoring people use, the better their memory performance.” The guinea-pigs were better able to resist misleading suggestions and to perform memory tasks because they put more effort into monitoring.

I’m no doctor, but surely this is the opposite result to the tests on ginkgo? There, people believed they were taking a memory-enhancing drug yet no difference was seen at all. I’m confused.

Related posts
Ginkgo biloba is no miracle drug