Strategies of Buenos Aires waiters to enhance memory capacity in a real-life setting

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bekinschtein, Tristan A.^; | Cardozo, Julian | Manes, Facundo F.^;

Affiliations: Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO), Buenos Aires, Argentina | MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK | Institute of Neurosciences - Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Note: [] Corresponding author Tel./Fax: +54 11 48074748; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: Human learning and memory evaluation in real-life situations remains difficult due to uncontrolled variables. Buenos Aires waiters, who memorize all the orders without written support, were evaluated in situ. Waiters received either eight different orders and customers remained seated in their original locations (OL), or changed locations (CL). Match between orders, subjects and location was decreased only in CL. Waiters' feature/location strategy links client with position at the table and beverage later. The hypothesis we raise is that memory-schemas link working memory to long-term memory networks through rapid encoding, making the information resistant to interference and enabling its fast retrieval if necessary cues are present.

Keywords: Memory, real-life, expertise

DOI: 10.3233/BEN-2008-0214

Journal: Behavioural Neurology, vol. 20, no. 3-4, pp. 65-70, 2008