University of Houston psychologist reveals how distraction breaks memory

It’s about focus, not storage

University of Houston

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University of Houston Associate Professor of Psychology Benjamin Tamber-Rosenau explains the science of memory - why older memories persist while new information is quicky forgotten. 

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Credit: University of Houston

You’re in the kitchen, baking a cake, and the recipe calls for two cups of sugar. By the time you choose between the brown and white sugar, you’ve forgotten how much you need, and you have to check the recipe again. That’s a failure of working memory—the mental workspace that lets you hold and use information for the task at hand. Meanwhile, you’re effortlessly singing the lyrics to a 90’s ballad. How can you remember every word of an old song but not something you read seconds ago? 

According to University of Houston associate professor of psychology Benjamin Tamber-Rosenau, the key is working memory consolidation – the process of protecting the information you just perceived from distraction, even though you might not aim to remember it in the longer term – and turning to a new task too quickly prevents that.  

“It is not well understood what cognitive processes are needed for consolidation. The current study aimed to address this gap by elaborating the consolidation of perceptual information from vision into working memory, with particular focus on whether this consolidation is local to memory storage systems or is instead dependent on central executive processing,” reports Tamber-Rosenau and his colleagues in Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics. “Our results showed that premature shifting to new tasks disrupts memory consolidation primarily because of demands on central executive processing, not on the storage systems themselves.”  

For the research, student participants from UH were asked to remember short strings of letters or very specific shades of colors. Each task required turning perceived information into working memories. 

The researchers tested whether a decision task, presented very quickly after the memory items or after a short delay, interferes more with consolidation when it uses the same type of memory or a different one—for example, asking if visual memories are more disrupted by visual decisions or verbal decisions. They found that what disrupted working memory consolidation was making an immediate decision, regardless of the type of decision being made.  

"Thus, consolidation is exclusively a function of central processing,” said Tamber-Rosenau, who has a history of human brain and cognition research focusing on attention and working memory. 

The research was led by recent UH Ph.D. graduate Brandon J. Carlos in collaboration with recent UH Ph.D. graduate Lindsay A. Santacroce and was mentored by Tamber-Rosenau. 

In practice 

Based on the research, here are tips that might improve your short-term memory:  

· Don’t multitask: If you want to remember something, even for just seconds or minutes, give it your full attention for a few seconds before doing anything else. Interruptions, especially in the first second or so, can break the process of turning what you just saw into a memory you can use to guide your actions.  

· Avoid immediately switching tasks: Don’t look at your phone right after reading or hearing something important! 

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Journal

Attention Perception & Psychophysics

Article Title

Does working memory consolidation rely on central processing?

 

Elif and Alp Tural help students see that meaningful design begins with understanding people

Virginia Tech

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Alp Tural (at left) and Elif Tural, interior design faculty in the School of Design, prepare students to create spaces rooted in empathy. Their teaching emphasizes designing with people through collaboration, accessibility, and a focus on human well-being.

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Credit: Photo by Evan Musgrave for Virginia Tech.

At the School of Design, interior design faculty Elif and Alp Tural teach students how empathy, accessibility, and well-being can shape the spaces designers create.

After earning their degrees at Arizona State University, the Turals moved to Blacksburg, where they now help prepare the next generation of interior designers in the College of Architecture, Arts, and Design. Their approach asks students to think carefully about how spaces affect the people who use them every day.

"Many of our students enter the design program with the idea that they want to design for people," Elif Tural said. "Our job is to help them understand that they are designing with people. We are not the experts on others' experiences. We have to listen, respond, and work collaboratively."

She currently serves on the evaluation team for the Mount Rogers Community Services Smyth Campus Expansion, a behavioral health facility. Her work on the project is grounded in trauma-informed design, with particular attention to how interiors can support the emotional well-being of clients.

"We are approaching it from a trauma-informed design perspective," Elif Tural said. "From the interior side, we are considering how design, including spatial layout, lighting, providing natural views, can support clients' well-being when they come to the facility, knowing that many of them arrive carrying significant trauma.”

Alp Tural's research addresses another critical dimension of human-centered design: visual accessibility. He studies how visual perception shapes the way people experience interior environments, focusing on details that are often overlooked, such as carpet patterns and levels of light and color contrast. Those choices can significantly influence whether a space feels legible and comfortable.

"The project I am currently working on focuses on visual accessibility and how to make spaces easier to perceive for a broader population," Alp Tural said. “Most of the time, we do not fully consider the wide range of visual perception when designing environments."

The Turals recently published a research article connected to that work in Architectural Science Review, titled "Low-light analyses in senior residential environments: a mesopic- and HDR-based workflow to improve safe navigation at night in."

Although visual decline is often associated with aging, Alp Tural's work takes a broader view, recognizing that visual challenges affect people of all ages.

"We all experience some form of visual limitation, whether that involves reduced acuity or the use of corrective lenses," he said. "Being able to navigate an environment easily and perceive potential obstacles, whether on stairs or along circulation paths, is essential."

Those values also shape the way he teaches. As co-instructor of the Senior Interior Design Studio, he guides students in bringing together everything they have learned, from building codes to spatial planning, while designing with close attention to users’ needs.

"The fourth-year studio is the culmination of everything students have learned so far," Alp Tural said. "It brings together building codes, spatial design, and the ability to respond empathetically to the functional, aesthetic, and psychological needs of users."

Written by Emily Southern, a senior majoring in multimedia journalism and student writer for Virginia Tech Marketing and Communications

Original study: doi.org/10.1080/00038628.2026.2641514

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DOI

10.1080/00038628.2026.2641514 

Article Title

Low-light analyses in senior residential environments: a mesopic- and HDR-based workflow to improve safe navigation at night

Nordic Seas Overturning Circulation strengthens as Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) weakens, new study

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

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While the AMOC, a major Atlantic current system, has weakened, its northern branch, the NOC, has remained stable over the past century, with models projecting a slight strengthening in the future. The NOC carries water past Iceland into the Nordic Seas before returning to the Atlantic, flowing as dense deep water over underwater ridges between Greenland, Iceland and Scotland.

“The stability of the NOC and its projected increase have been viewed by some as a contradiction to the weakening AMOC. But our findings tell us the opposite. The strengthening of the NOC is a physical consequence of AMOC weakening,” said co-author Stefan Rahmstorf of PIK.

“Our model results indicate that a density-driven mechanism links these opposing trends. A weakened AMOC leads to reduced salt transport into the subpolar North Atlantic, lowering the density of water there, and strengthening the NOC by increasing the density contrast with the waters further north,” explained lead author Sasha Roewer, PIK researcher when the study was conducted and now with the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology.

Using detailed climate model data and a simplified model of the Atlantic and Nordic Seas, the researchers investigated how changes in water density link the AMOC and NOC.

According to the model simulations, the NOC may keep strengthening as a result of AMOC weakening. But only until deep convection in the Nordic Seas shuts down – a change that could then trigger the collapse of both currents.

“A strengthening of the NOC is not a sign of a stable AMOC, but rather a symptom of its weakening and perhaps even a precursor of its shutdown, with profound impacts for the global climate,” Stefan Rahmstorf concluded. 
 

Article

Roewer, S., Fiedler, L.,  Årthun, M., Huiskamp, W., Rahmstorf, S. (2026): Nordic overturning increases as AMOC weakens in response to global warming. Ocean Science [DOI: 10.5194/os-22-1195-2026]

 

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Journal

Ocean Science

DOI

10.5194/os-22-1195-2026 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Nordic overturning increases as AMOC weakens in response to global warming.

Article Publication Date

20-Apr-2026

New publication about the influence of Southern Hemisphere waters on the Indonesian Throughflow

MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

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The star on the map indicates the origin of the sample material. Based on their analyses, the researchers were able to demonstrate that there is a connection between the Southern Ocean and the Banda Sea (Indonesia). 

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Credit: Graphic: MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; M. Hollstein

The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) is the only low-latitude connection between two ocean basins and an important component of the global ocean circulation. Every second, it transports approximately 15 million cubic meters of water from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean. Today, the ITF is thought to transport mainly waters of North Pacific origin. Even though the significance of the ITF for the global ocean circulation and climate has long been established, little is known about the hemispheric origin of the water masses contributing to its overall transport in the past. 

To study the hemispheric origin of the ITF source waters, an international team led by Prof. Markus Kienast from Dalhousie University (Halifax, Canada) measured nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) in a sediment core from the Banda Sea, Indonesia – located at the heart of the ITF. “The isotopic compositions of subsurface nitrate in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere source waters of the ITF are substantially different and by measuring δ15N in the Banda Sea core, we could detect the contribution of these waters to the ITF through time,” explains Dr. Martina Hollstein, corresponding author of the study. “Our results show a remarkable long-term stability of the nitrogen cycle all along the equatorial Pacific, with Southern Hemisphere-sourced subsurface waters contributing significantly to the total ITF transport during the last 800,000 years.” 

The study reveals that the Southern Hemisphere contribution has been much higher than previously thought. “This is an important finding. Because it implies a relevant and direct conduit by which high southern Pacific climate signal is transmitted to the Indonesian Seas and from there, to the Indian and Atlantic Oceans,” says PD Dr. Mahyar Mohtadi from MARUM and Faculty of geosciences at the university of Bremen, also corresponding author of the study.

The transport of elements within the water column and towards the ocean floor is also being investigated further as part of the Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean Floor – Earth’s Uncharted Interface”, which is currently based at MARUM and the Institute of Marine Chemistry and Biology (ICBM) at the University of Oldenburg. The aim is to estimate their budget under current and past conditions of the Earth system.

More information
Working group Low-Latitude Climate Variability https://www.marum.de/en/Low-Latitude-Climate-Variability.html

Contact
Dr. Martina Hollstein
Low-Latitude Climate Variability
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen
Email: mhollstein@marum.de

PD Dr. Mahyar Mohtadi
Low-Latitude Climate Variability
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen
Email: mmohtadi@marum.de

Participating Institutions
•    Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax (Canada)
•    MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, Germany
•    Faculty of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Germany
•    Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania (Australia)
•    College of Marine Science, University of South Florida (USA)
•    College of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China (China)
•    Institute of Earth Sciences, National Taiwan Ocean University (Taiwan)

MARUM produces fundamental scientific knowledge about the role of the ocean and the ocean floor in the total Earth system. The dynamics of the ocean and the ocean floor significantly impact the entire Earth system through the interaction of geological, physical, biological and chemical processes. These influence both the climate and the global carbon cycle, and create unique biological systems. MARUM is committed to fundamental and unbiased research in the interests of society and the marine environment, and in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. It publishes its quality-assured scientific data and makes it publicly available. MARUM informs the public about new discoveries in the marine environment and provides practical knowledge through its dialogue with society. MARUM cooperates with commercial and industrial partners in accordance with its goal of protecting the marine environment.
 

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Journal

Nature Communications

DOI

10.1038/s41467-026-71786-1 

Article Title

Significant Southern Hemisphere contribution to the Indonesian Throughflow over the last 800,000 years

Article Publication Date

14-Apr-2026

 

Severe childhood malaria linked to cognitive impairment later in life

Indiana University

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A mother and her child providing consent to participate in the Malarial Impact on Neurobehavioral Development (MIND) study.

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Credit: Photo courtesy Chandy John, IU School of Medicine

INDIANAPOLIS — Severe childhood malaria is linked to long-term cognitive impairment, according to a new study from Indiana University School of Medicine researchers and their collaborators at Makerere University in Uganda. 

The findings, recently published in JAMA, suggest children who survive cases of cerebral malaria and severe malarial anemia experience cognitive and academic impairment that persists into adolescence. The correlation highlights an urgent need for the development of better prevention strategies and more effective therapies to minimize the lasting effects of one of the world’s most dangerous diseases. 

The World Health Organization reported 282 million malaria cases in 2024, with children under 5 accounting for about 75% of 610,000 global deaths. 

"Cerebral malaria and severe malarial anemia, which affect more than a million children every year, are not only causes of death in children, but also associated with very long-term costs in terms of a child’s thinking and their academic achievement," said Chandy John, MD, the Ryan White Professor of Pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine, who co-led the study. "These costs, particularly in the area of math skills, can affect their ability to do well in school, to go to college and to get a good job."

Malaria is caused by mosquito-transmitted parasites, with symptoms ranging from mild to life-threatening. Severe cases can cause complications to blood cell production resulting in malarial anemia, and serious neurological issues leading to coma, which defines cerebral malaria. 

In the Malarial Impact on Neurobehavioral Development (MIND) study, children from two prior cohort studies of severe malaria were followed up four and 15 years after their initial episode, and their scores in cognition and academic achievement were compared to those of children in the community who did not have severe malaria. They found that children who survived cerebral malaria and severe malarial anemia experienced cognitive impairment, with cognition scores the equivalent of 3 to 7 IQ points below their community peers. 

Specific clinical factors in children with cerebral malaria or severe malarial anemia, such as the presence of acute kidney injury and elevated levels of uric acid, which is necessary for some body functions but can be toxic when present in too high levels, were found to be associated with worse long-term cognitive outcomes. 

The group’s future work will focus on determining if cerebral malaria and severe malarial anemia are causing the cognitive impairment, and how to prevent it. 

"Cohort studies can show an association, but they can’t prove that these illnesses caused the impairment," John said. "Instead, we can look at potential pathways in the body and the brain and see how they relate to cognition. That’s what we’re doing in our current study, SMART Brain."

SMART Brain, short for Severe Malaria and Risk to The Brain, will allow the scientists to use models of the brain to explore further the link between specific processes that occur in severe malaria and brain injury. 

"If we can identify pathways that lead to brain injury, then we can come up with interventions that may prevent brain injury, and test these in clinical trials," John said. "That could potentially protect the brain and improve cognitive and academic outcomes for hundreds of thousands of children in countries with malaria."  

IU School of Medicine’s Kagan Mellencamp, Jie Ren, Andrea Conroy, Dibyadyuti Datta, Christian Kautzman and Michael Goings are co-authors on the study. Additional authors include Paul Bangirana, Jacqueline Nakitende, Ruth Namazzi and Richard Idro from Makerere University, Robert Opoka from Aga Khan University and Bjarne Robberstad from University of Bergen. 

This research was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health. 

About the Indiana University School of Medicine 

The IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability. According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, the IU School of Medicine ranks No. 15 in 2025 National Institutes of Health funding among all public medical schools in the country. 

Writer: Jackie Maupin, jacmaup@iu.edu 

For more news, visit the IU School of Medicine Newsroom: medicine.iu.edu/news  

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Journal

JAMA

 

Plastic texturing kills viruses when they land

Researchers have developed a thin plastic film that tears apart viruses on contact, offering a promising new way to keep high touch surfaces such as smartphones and hospital equipment from spreading disease.

RMIT University

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Transparent acrylic samples with engineered nanotextured surfaces, prepared for microscopy analysis, showing how clear plastic can be turned into a coating that physically tears viruses apart on contact. Image: RMIT

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Credit: RMIT University

Researchers have developed a thin plastic film that tears apart viruses on contact, offering a promising new way to keep high‑touch surfaces such as smartphones and hospital equipment from spreading disease.

The innovation is not only effective at killing viruses, but also far more practical and scalable than earlier metal and silicon‑based antiviral surfaces.

The flexible acrylic surface is textured with ultra‑fine structures called nanopillars that grab and stretch the outer shell of the virus so much that it ruptures, killing the virus through mechanical force rather than chemical disinfectants.

Unlike earlier studies on antiviral coatings, this research published in Advanced Science shows stretching rather than skewering viruses is a more effective kill.

In lab tests with the human parainfluenza virus 3 (hPIV-3) – which causes bronchiolitis and pneumonia – about 94% of the virus particles were either ripped apart or damaged to the point where they could no longer replicate to cause infection within one hour of contact with the surface.

Study lead author and PhD candidate Samson Mah from Australia’s RMIT University, said the team used cheap, flexible plastic that can be made in big factory rolls, like cling wrap.

“As nanofabrication tools get better, our results give a clearer guide to which nanopatterns work best to kill viruses,” he said.

“We could one day have surfaces like phone screens, keyboards and hospital tables covered with this film, killing viruses on contact without using harsh chemicals.

“Our mould can be adapted to roll‑to‑roll manufacturing, meaning antiviral plastic films could be produced at scale with existing factory equipment.”

Mah said the research revealed how distance between the nanopillars matters far more than their height.

“By tweaking the spacing and height of the nanopillars, we discovered how tightly they are packed together is far more important than how tall they are for breaking viruses apart,” he said.

“When the nanopillars are closer together, more of them can press on the same virus at once, stretching its outer shell past breaking point.”

While early experiments on rigid substrates such as nanospike silicon showed viruses could be physically disrupted, this study showed the surfaces textured with not only spiky-like nanofeatures, but also with blunt nanopillars can efficiently kill viruses.

This new research shows the same virus‑killing action on flexible plastic and proposes a simple design rule: the closer together the nanofeatures such as spikes or nanopillars are, the better they work.

This strongest effect came from densely packed nanopillars with about 60 nanometres between them, while widening the gaps to 100 nanometres reduced the antiviral power and 200 nanometres effectively switched it off.

So far, the work has focused on hPIV‑3, an enveloped virus with a fatty outer membrane; the team now plans to test smaller and non‑enveloped viruses to see how broadly the nanotextured surface works.

An enveloped virus has a fragile fatty membrane around it that can be more easily disrupted by nanopillars, while a non-enveloped virus lacks this outer layer, making it harder to kill.

More research is also needed to study the texturing’s effectiveness on curved surfaces, which affects the nanopillars’ spacing.

Study co‑author Distinguished Professor Elena Ivanova from RMIT said the team is keen to work with industry to further the research.

“We think this texturing is a strong candidate for everyday use and we’re ready to partner with companies to refine it for large‑scale manufacturing,” she said.

Organisations wishing to partner with RMIT can contact research.partnerships@rmit.edu.au.

‘Designing Scalable Mechano-Virucidal Nanostructured Acrylic Surfaces for Enhanced Viral Inactivation’, is published in Advanced Science. (DOI: 10.1002/advs.202521667)

Microscope image of a virus cell being ruptured by the nanotextured surface.

Credit

RMIT University

Journal

Advanced Science

DOI

10.1002/advs.202521667 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Cells

Article Title

Designing Scalable Mechano-Virucidal Nanostructured Acrylic Surfaces for Enhanced Viral Inactivation