June 26, 2024: Today we're covering a surprising weakness of lanternflies, car-crash data and what's really killing whales. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | | Cramming is less effective for remembering something than repeat learning sessions spread over time, numerous experiments have confirmed. Psychologists call this the spacing effect. But the spacing effect may not work as well for "associative memory," that is, recalling real-world mixes of information, which often involves remembering a single item, say a new co-worker's name, in a variety of different contexts, say in another location or after your co-worker has a new haircut. In recent experiments, people better remembered information if it was presented in variable scenes or contexts than if it was always paired with the same scene, write cognitive neuroscientist Emily T. Cowan and colleagues. Study subjects also better remembered the paired pieces of information in crammed learning sessions than in sessions spread out over time.
Key takeaway: If you're trying to remember someone's name in a limited amount of time, simply repeating their name in your mind might not be the most effective approach. Instead, think of their name plus their hair color, their name plus where you met them, and their name plus their favorite food, Cowan writes.
What the experts say: Cramming and repetition both have a place when it comes to remembering material, Cowan writes. In the classroom, "depending on what a teacher wants their student to learn, class materials could be either repeated across lessons identically or embedded within a new lesson plan each time." | | | Malte Mueller/Getty Images | | | A newly discovered behavioral clue could prove useful for managing populations of spotted lanternflies that have invaded the northeastern U.S. for the past 10 years, destroying regional grapevines, trees and other fruit crops. Observers reported that lanternflies were gathering around power lines. Those tales inspired researchers to investigate whether the insects had an affinity for certain vibrations. In the lab, lanternflies on a surface were found to move toward speaker-generated vibrations of the same buzz-like frequency as power lines (60 hertz). The finding suggests that spotted lanternflies rely on such vibrations to communicate with one another, according to a study covered by freelance journalist Claire Marie Porter. Insights into how lanternflies communicate could help researchers devise effective traps to capture the insects.
What the experts say: "There might be other types of signals that, when applied a certain way, might jam their communication and disrupt mating or even drive them away," says entomologist Miriam Cooperband, who designed the study.
Why this matters: Spotted lanternflies are listed by Pennsylvania State University as potentially the most destructive invasive insect in 150 years. Beyond destroying plant life, the insects excrete a sticky "honeydew" that attracts stinging insects and feeds molds that grow on leaves, thereby blocking photosynthesis. | | | • In a first, cooling costs for public housing residents will be covered. | 2 min read | | | • Insurance companies, automakers and authorities such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission tend to point exclusively to human error ("road user error") as the cause of car crashes that lead to death and injury. That victim-blaming lens allows insurers, planners and policymakers to ignore other relevant variables when examining crash data involving drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. Instead, automakers and traffic engineers also should factor in the potential risks posed by road designs, car-centric transportation systems, and enormous SUVs and light-duty trucks outfitted with distracting screens, writes civil engineer Wesley Marshall. "Bad road user behavior shouldn't be excused," Marshall writes, "but a bit of digging below the surface of crash data unearths a completely different story." | 5 min read | | | • Amid a record-breaking heat wave, researchers step up warnings about risks extreme temperatures pose to children. | Inside Climate News | | | • We tried to replace 404 Media with AI. | 404 Media | | | Happy National Canoe Day, Canadians! This annual designation is not yet two decades old, but it seems like a pleasant pastime to celebrate regardless of where you live. In some places online, I see this date called "National Canoe & Kayak Day." If you enjoy archived Scientific American stories, check out the February 21, 1880, issue, which includes an illustrated feature on "The Construction of Canvas Canoes," written for "the benefit of many new canoeists who do not care to go to the expense of a wooden canoe at first." I've never personally built or owned a canoe. But we did have a canvas sailboat, when I was a kid. As for kayaks, I will reserve for another day the story of my dad and me renting kayaks without checking the tide charts. | —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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