Reading Information Aloud To Yourself Improves Memory (qz.com)

According to a study in the journal Memory, reading aloud works by creating a "production effect" which cements information in your memory. Meanwhile, hearing words said in your own voice personalizes the references and enhances recollection, according to psychology professor Colin MacLeod and researchers from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Quartz reports: The findings are based on a study of 95 students (75 of whom returned for a second session) at the University of Waterloo. The students were tested on their ability to recall written information inputted in four different ways -- reading silently, hearing someone else read, listening to a recording of oneself reading, and reading aloud in real time. They were tested on recollection of short, four-to-six letter words on a list of 160 terms. The results show that reading information aloud to oneself led to the best recall. Oral production is effective because it has two distinctive components, a motor or speech act and a personal auditory input, the researchers explain. "[The] results suggest that production is memorable in part because it includes a distinctive, self-referential component. This may well underlie why rehearsal is so valuable in learning and remembering," the study concludes. "We do it ourselves, and we do it in our own voice. When it comes time to recover the information, we can use this distinctive component to help us to remember."

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Re:News?

[PolygamousRanchKid]

But apparently some people still need to read it to themselves aloud.

With politicians, the more often they say their own lies out loud, the more likely they will believe their own lies later:

Walter Ulbricht, the former communist leader of East Germany (DDR) was often asked about rumors of the planning to build the Berlin Wall. His answer?

The builders of our capital are fully engaged in residential construction, and its labor force is deployed for that. Nobody has the intention to erect a wall.

15 June 1961 at a press conference in East Berlin. Less than two months later construction began.

Bill Clinton: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, pursued a policy of appeasement through the 1930's that was designed to avert another world war.

In fact, Hitler had already mobilized the German Army for an attack on Czechoslovakia, but the Army would not be ready to attack for several weeks. Hitler hopes that Chamberlain will prevent the Czechs from mobilizing and allow for a surprise attack by Germany.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Chamberlain said of Hitler: “I got the impression that here was a man that could be relied upon when he had given his word.”

In 1962, Nikita Khrushchev assured John F. Kennedy that no offensive missiles would be placed in Cuba.

Gromyko came to the White House to ask the US to lessen tensions that existed regarding Cuba, and to assure Kennedy that no missiles would be placed in Cuba. Gromyko knew that the missiles were in route to Cuba, and needed more time to transport and conceal them.

Kennedy listened to Gromyko’s assurances as pictures of the missile sat on his deck a few feet away. Two days earlier, U-2 photos discovered had the missiles. Kennedy lied to Gromyko stating that nothing was wrong and Gromyko searched for any reaction.

LBJ’s concealment of adverse information about the progress of the Viet Nam War was initially designed to show the strong support of American public opinion as a tool for negotiating peace.

Johnson’s deceit in misleading the electorate of information to make an informed political choice was compounded by the fact that many of his own advisers came to believe the lies.

The lies had been told so often that many came to believe them as true and self-deception resulted in poor military decisions.

So what should one think about this current crop of Hollywood and Washington, DC sexual harassment accusations . . . ?

Just remember, the truth is the first casualty in war . . .