What is Your Memory Bump?

You need 10 minutes to complete this test as well as a piece of paper and a pen or pencil.

Step A
On a blank sheet of paper, write all the fifteen words listed below, leaving some space in between.

 

 

 

 

 

Step B
Look at each word and recall the first memory that you can think of from your past which relates to that word and write down a few details about it. That memory may come from your more recent years, adulthood, young adulthood or childhood - it can be from any period of your life.

 

Step C
Go back to the memories you had written down under each of the fifteen words and try to remember your age at the time of the memory (try to be as accurate as possible).

 

Step D
Document the number of memories for each decade.

 

 

Step E
From which decade or decades of your life did most of the memories come?

Conclusion
Generally speaking, many other aspects of memory performance decline with age, however “memory bumps” tend to remain stable well into our nineties and even beyond! If you are forty years old and older, you have most likely collected the largest number of memories in your teenage years and 20s, that is, under the age groups 11-20 and 21-30. Why? The science world doesn’t yet have an answer; do you?