Available online at:
https://cc.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/cc%3Apsycjournal

J Camosun Psyc Res. (2021). Vol. 3(1), pp. 41-48.
Submitted Fall 2020; accepted July 2021.

How to Enhance Your Memory.
Authors: Morgan Doll*
Supervising Instructor & Assistant: Michael Pollock and Kristina Andrew, Psyc
110 (“Experimental Psychology”)
Department of Psychology, Camosun College, 3100 Foul Bay Road, Victoria, BC, Canada V8P 5J2
*Corresponding author email: doll_morgan@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT
This paper aims to learn how to increase the mind’s ability to efficiently memorize and store
knowledge. Previous research has demonstrated an enhanced memory based on increased
consumption of antioxidants, curiosity-based memory, and decreased consumption of
calories/tryptophan. In the present study, I tested the strength of these relationships by examining
naturalistic daily changes in their variables longitudinally over a two-week period. I measured
the amount of antioxidants, calories, and tryptophan consumed by using the “MyFitnessPal” app,
tracked my interest in daily studies on a scale of 1-10, and assessed memory ability using the
Match to Sample test. Based on the data produced in this study, memory showed a significant
negative correlation with caloric intake, but no significant correlation with antioxidant intake,
curiosity level, or tryptophan intake. To summarize the practical applications of my findings it
was discovered my caloric intake played an important role in solving my original research
problem of enhancing memory and being a more efficient student.
1. Introduction
1.2 Literature Review
1.1 Research Problem
As college students begin their semesters
they will consistently begin to memorize and
learn new concepts in a wide array of
classes. If students were able to use memory
techniques to enhance their ability to store
information, they could accomplish more
schoolwork efficiently. The potential
benefits of an increased memory would
allow students to succeed not only in class
but in their personal lives as well. In this
research paper, I hope to discover how to
successfully enhance memory and become a
more efficient student.

A possible answer to my research
problem is increasing antioxidants in my
diet. In a study conducted by Dong et al.
(2019), mice exposed to antioxidantcontaining fresh ginseng during testing
showed an increase in spatial memory.
While mice exposed to chronic restraint
stress exhibited significantly longer escape
latencies several days after initial training in
the location recognition test, treatment with
fresh ginseng significantly decreased the
escape latencies, thus reversing these
impairments. These effects of fresh ginseng
can be interpreted as evidence that the mice
exposed to increased antioxidants were able
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to remember escape routes quicker than
mice not exposed.
Another possible solution to
enhanced memory is based on curiosity
driven memory. In a study by Stare et al.
(2018), 93 participants from Arizona
University memorized trivia questions and
faces, and were asked to rate how curious
they were about each question. Their results
showed evidence that answer recollection to
trivia questions was higher based on topics
that the subjects found most curious.








Hypothesis #1: If consumption of
antioxidants increases then memory
ability will increase
Hypothesis #2: If curiosity increases
then memory ability will increase.
Hypothesis #3: If consumption of
calories decreases then memory ability
will increase.
Hypothesis #4: If consumption of
tryptophan decreases then memory
ability will increase.

2. Methods
A decrease in caloric consumption of
calories could be a plausible answer to my
research problem. In a study conducted by
Teng et al. (2019), memory ability in a
group of mice introduced to a restricted diet
(consumed 60% less of diet) was compared
to another group of mice able to eat at free
will. Memory was tested using the novel
object recognition test which allowed the
animal to explore a novel object or familiar
one. Memory retention was interpreted when
a higher object discrimination index was
displayed. Both the dietary restricted mice
and mice eating at free will showed an
increase in memory retention after the first
hour of training. However, after 24 hours of
training the mice eating at free will
demonstrated a significant decline in
retention while the dietary restricted mice
displayed stable retention of memory.
Therefore, it is suggested that caloric intake
and Tryptophan an amino acid in protein
may be responsible for limiting memory
from restricted dieting. This may play a
significant role in memory enhancement and
only requires a shift in dietary habits.
1.3 Hypotheses
Based on the above literature reviews, I
have predicted the following:

2.1 Participant
The author of this paper served as the
participant in this study. At the time of this
study, I was a 25 years old male
undergraduate student at Camosun College.
I completed the current study as an
assignment for Psychology 110
(‘’Experimental Psychology”) and I chose
the study based on an interest in personal
memory enhancement.
2.2 Materials and Procedure
I performed a correlational study to test
concurrently all four of my hypotheses by
examining naturalistic daily changes in their
variables longitudinally. I kept a study
journal with me at all times for this study’s
two-week period in order to record selfobservations of the following four variables:
(1) antioxidants (2) curiosity (3) calories (4)
tryptophan, and (5) memory ability.
To measure antioxidants levels I
downloaded “MyFitnessPal” app which
tracks macro nutrient intake, including
antioxidants. I logged all meals eaten during
the days of testing and recorded the number
of antioxidants. If I did not consume any
antioxidants that day then the level of
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antioxidants for that day was recorded as
zero.
To measure curiosity I engaged in
daily college studies and recorded on a scale
of 1-10 how interested in the topic being
studied he was. 1 being not curious at all and
10 being the most curious possible.
To measure caloric intake, the
“MyFitnessPal’’ app was used. The app
tracked all meals consumed and measured
total amount of calories for each day. The
participant recorded total number of calories
each night prior to going to sleep.
To measure tryptophan levels the
“MyFitnessPal’’ app was used. The app
tracked all meals consumed and measured
total amount of tryptophan for each day. The
participant recorded total amount of
tryptophan each night prior to going to
sleep.
To measure memory enhancement
the participant performed the Match to
Sample test from the “Psych Lab 101” app.
This test measures memory based on
recognition of patterns. A brief image of a
pattern was displayed onscreen and then
disappear, seconds later an image of two
patterns would appear one of the patterns
would be the same and the other would not
be. To awnser correctly the same pattern
must be selected that was displayed
moments before. During the test the time
between images varied from 1-10 seconds
between images.
To assess the strength and statistical
significance of associations between
variables predicted by my four hypotheses, I
performed Pearson product moment
correlations of their predictor variables
(antioxidants, curiosity, calories, and
tryptophan) with their outcome variable
(memory). For testing Hypothesis #1, daily
antioxidant intake was correlated with
accuracy percentage on the Match to Sample
test. For testing Hypothesis #2, levels of

curiosity on a scale of of 1-10 were
correlated with accuracy percentage on the
Match to Sample test. For testing
Hypothesis #3, daily caloric intake was
correlated with accuracy percentage on the
Match to Sample test. For testing
Hypothesis #4, daily tryptophan level was
correlated with accuracy percentage on the
Match to Sample test. A correlation
coefficient was considered statistically
significant if the probability of its random
occurrence (p) was < .05 (i.e., less than 5%
of the time expected by chance alone).
3. Results
As shown in Table 1, the major finding of
this study was that dietary restriction shows
a significant correlation with memory
enhancement. Caloric intake was
significantly correlated with memory ability
(r = -0.74, p = .001; see Figure 4). In
contrast, no other variable was found to be
significantly correlated with memory ability:
tryptophan (r = -0.03, p = 0.925; see Figure
2), curiosity (r = -0.04, p = 0.88; see Figure
1), antioxidants (r = 0.28, p = 0.33; see
Figure 3). Based on a comparison of the
correlation coefficients using raw data,
dietary restrictions showed the strongest
correlation with memory enhancement.
4. Discussion
4.1 Summary of Results
Based on previous research, I
hypothesized that an increase/decrease in
four variables would improve memory: an
increase in the consumption of antioxidants
(Hypothesis #1), an increase in curiosity
(Hypothesis #2), a decrease in the
consumption of calories (Hypothesis #3),
and a decrease in consumption of tryptophan
(Hypothesis #4). The data in this study
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supported the predicted relationship with
memory enhancement and dietary
restrictions (Hypothesis #3) but did not
support a relationship of memory with
antioxidants, curiosity, or tryptophan
(Hypotheses #1,2,4).
4.2 Relation of Results to Past Research
The correlational study was not able to
predict an increase in antioxidants and
memory enhancement in line with the
previous research. While Dong, et al. (2019)
found that an increase in antioxidants (via
ginseng) in mice undergoing constant
restraint stress showed a significant
improvement in memory, the participant in
the current study did not undergo severe
stress during its procedures. This could be a
contributing factor to the result of the study.
Future studies on unfortunate victims of
stress should be examined to see if
antioxidants may have an ameliorating effect
upon their memory.
The lack of a relationship found between
curiosity and memory in the current study
was not consistent with past research. Stare
et al. (2018) found that participants that
were curious in trivia questions were more
likely to remember them. In the current
study, curiosity was rated about a topic
(college studies) that was separate from the
one used for assessing memory ability.
Further studies should be done to assess the
correlation of curiosity for and
memorization of the same information.
In the current study, dietary restriction
was able to predict memory enhancement in
line with past study by Teng et al. (2019). In
the study by Teng et al. (2019), experimental
mice were restricted to consume 60% less
calories while the control group of mice ate
at free will. The participant in the current
study ate free will but found an increase in
memory performance on days with lower

amounts of calories. The participant was not
regularly restricting diet by 60% of caloric
intake. This demonstrates the
generalizability of the relationship between a
decrease in caloric consumption and
memory enhancement.
In the study by Teng et al. (2019) it was
also suggesting that a reduction of protein
and certain amino acids, including
tryptophan, might improve stress resistance
and rodent life. Their study also found that
tryptophan played a significant role in
limiting dietary restrictions on performance
of memory enhancement. In the current
study, I failed to find a significant
relationship between tryptophan and
memory enhancement. Future studies should
re-examine this possible relationship with
more accurate measuring devices of
tryptophan than the app used in the current
study.
4.3 Implications of Results
During my studies on memory
enhancement I have learned the importance
of how a healthy diet can increase my mind.
By monitoring caloric consumption in the
future, I can better optimize my studies and
memory retention. I will be able to monitor
caloric consumption in the future the same
way as I did during my studies. Collecting
and reviewing the data at the end of the day
has become an integral part of my nightly
routine and will continue to be into the
future.
My original rationale for picking this
research problem was to learn better ways to
study and perhaps learn new study
techniques and or habits. During my studies
and reviews of other scientific literature on
memory enhancement it became apparent
that diet played the most important and
critical part of enhancing ones memory.
Another contributing factor that seemed
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blatantly obvious but was also useful, was to
be naturally interested in the topic being
studied. This tactic supported the fact that it
may be very hard to memorize certain topics
for some people while others who show a
natural curiosity in the topic may thrive.

References
Dong, L., Wang, Y., Lv, J., Zhang, H.,
Jiang, N., Lu, C., Xu, P., & Liu, X.
(2019). Memory enhancement of fresh
ginseng on deficits induced by chronic
restraint stress in mice. Nutritional
Neuroscience, 22(4), 235–242.
Stare, C. J., Gruber, M. J., Nadel, L.,
Ranganath, C., & Gómez, R. L. (2018).
Curiosity-driven memory enhancement

persists over time but does not benefit
from post-learning sleep. Cognitive
Neuroscience, 9(3–4), 100–115.
https://doiorg.libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/10.108
0/17588928.2018.1513399
Teng, L.-L., Lu, G.-L., Chiou, L.-C., Lin,
W.-S., Cheng, Y.-Y., Hsueh, T.-E.,
Huang, Y.-C., Hwang, N.-H., Yeh, J.W., Liao, R.-M., Fan, S.-Z., Yen, J.-H.,
Fu, T.-F., Tsai, T.-F., Wu, M.-S., &
Wang, P.-Y. (2019). Serotonin receptor
HTR6-mediated mTORC1 signaling
regulates dietary restriction–induced
memory enhancement. PLoS Biology,
17(3), 1–22. https://doiorg.libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/10.137
1/journal.pbio.2007097

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Table 1
Correlation coefficient (r) values, with number of daily trials (n) per correlation in brackets.
Variables correlated
Tryptophan & Memory

r(n)
-0.03(14)

Curiosity & Memory

-0.04(14)

Antioxidants & Memory

0.28(14)

Calories & Memory

-0.74(14)*

* p < .05.

Figure 1
Scatterplot of curiosity rating and memory ability.

Memory (Accuracy percentage)

1.2
1
0.8

0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

2

4
6
Curiosity (Scale 1-10)

8

10

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Figure 2
Scatterplot of tryptophan and memory ability.

Memory (Accuracy Percentage)

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

20

40

60
80
100
Tryptophan (grams)

120

140

160

300

350

400

Figure 3
Scatterplot of antioxidants and memory ability.

Memory (Accuracy percentage)

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

50

100

150
200
250
Antioxidants (% of daily value)

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Figure 4
Scatterplot of calories and memory ability.

Memory (Accuracy percentage)

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0

500

1000

1500
2000
Calories (Caloriees )

2500

3000

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