Using machine learning to measure the ‘tensile strength’ of memories
24 Feb 2021420 Views
Lorin Sweeney. Image: Insight
PhD student Lorin Sweeney is using computer science to explore how we can create more meaningful and memorable content.
With a BSc in computer applications and software engineering, you might not expect Lorin Sweeney to be examining the intricacies of how our memory works. It’s a topic he first encountered during his undergraduate studies and he is now delving into it as a PhD student in computer science at Dublin City University (DCU).
Conducting his research at Science Foundation Ireland’s Insight research centre for data analytics, Sweeney aims to design machine learning models that can predict how memorable a piece of content will be.
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New research from Trinity College Dublin suggests that older adults can be more focused, less impeded by anxiety and less mentally restless than younger adults. The team at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN) (today, Wednesday, 10th February, 2021) show that older adults appear to mitigate the negative aspects of cognitive decline by increasing motivation and adopting more efficient strategies to suspend the wandering mind when focus is required.
The study, published in the journal
Psychology and Aging (American Psychological Association) is the first to adjudicate between competing theories of age-related mind-wandering dominant in the field. It highlights the influential roles of affective and motivational factors in driving age-related differences in unintentional mind-wandering and provide reasons to be less persuaded by previous cognitive resources accounts.