Member week is here at Lowe's.
Don't miss your chance to get up to 40 % off hundreds of items like paint, outdoor and home essentials and more.
Shop our exclusive deals happening in store and online now through May 14th.
Not a rewards member?
Join for free today and get ready to save more.
Lowe's. We help you save. Loyalty program subject to terms and conditions.
Details of Lowe's .com slash terms, subject to change.
Running a business comes with a lot of what if's but luckily there's a simple answer to them.
Shopify, it's the commerce platform behind millions of businesses including Thrive Cosmetics and Momofuku and it'll help you with everything you need.
From website design and marketing to boosting sales and expanding operations, Shopify can get the job done and make your dream a reality.
Turn those what if's into Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify .com slash special offer.
Why does walking through doorways make us forget things?
Thanks for asking. Have you ever walked into your living room, kitchen or bedroom and completely forgotten what you went there for in the first place?
That happens to most people form time to time, but it can be pretty annoying and a little unsettling too.
You might start wondering if you've got memory problems. Well, this mental block phenomenon actually has a name.
The doorway effect.
Has it been studied by researchers?
Yes, and most notably, through a series of studies run by Gabriel Redvensky and his colleagues at the University of Notre Dame in the USA.
The findings were published in the quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2011.
Study participants had to navigate real or virtual environments, picking up items as they went along and moving from one room to another.
They were quizzed by the research team at random intervals and a clear pattern emerged.
The participants' memory performance was worse after walking through a doorway.
So what's actually going on in the brain at that specific moment?
For now, there's no definitive proof as to what causes the doorway effect, but it seems that when we move from one room to another, a mental process called event updating kicks in.
The brain removes information linked to the previous environment and starts to focus on the new one instead.
The doorway itself is referred to as an event boundary and the same thing can actually happen in other scenarios too.
Like switching from one browser window to another.
or when another person enters the room you're in.
Should I be worried if it happens to me?
Absolutely not! As I mentioned earlier it happens to most people...
Rest assured, experiencing the doorway effect doesn't mean there's any issue with your memory, intelligence or cognitive function.
It's a normal brain function, which means that your brain is dividing things up in a logical way.
It's like our mind is cleaning the slate when moving from one environment to the next.
But of course it can be inconvenient if the doorway effect happens when you're in a rush or causes you to forget something important.
A few tips may help prevent it happening to you too often.
If you're going somewhere with a specific goal in mind, take an object with you which will remind you of that goal when you get there.
For example, if you're going to the bedroom to look for a pen, take your notepad.
Another simple trick is going back to the room you were in initially.
That may well jog your memory.
Even thinking about the previous environment is sometimes enough.
There you have it. Now you know why walking through doorways makes us forget things.
In under three minutes we answer your questions and help you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines.
Listen along and you will really know for sure.
