Want to Improve Your Memory? Try Walking Backwards
Want to Improve Your Memory? Try Walking Backwards A 43-year-old Indonesian man is walking 435 miles, from his home in East Java to the capital of Jakarta -- backwards. Covering about 12 to 19 miles a day, with a rear-view mirror attached to his backpack so he can avoid bumping into things, he has undertaken his trek to call attention to his country’s high degree of deforestation. Chances are he’ll remember every step along the way. According to a Harvard University Department of Psychology study published earlier this year, people who walk backwards, imagine walking backwards, or watch a video simulating a backwards walk have a sharper recall of recent events than those who walk forward or sit still. Because numerous studies have shown links between memory and motion, researchers decided to test the relative effects of forward and backward movement on recall ability. They asked 114 people to take part in a variety of memory experiments, showing each one a word list, a group