Covid lockdowns 'crippled memory just as much as spending time in prison' trends now
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Lockdowns during the pandemic may have had a similar impact on people’s memories to serving jail time, a study suggests.
The study, involving 227 people in the UK, asked them to name the year in which important news events happened.
The volunteers remembered events from 2021 about as poorly as those from four years earlier.
This is similar to what happens to people in prison, who lose the ability to track the passing of time, according to the researchers.
Professor Arash Sahraie, senior author of the study from the University of Aberdeen, said: ‘In prison, research shows that people report days dragging and years flying by, with inmates losing track of time.
A study suggests the Covid lockdown may have a similar impact on people's ability to remember events as those who go to prison (stock image)
‘This is similar to what we saw in people asked to recall events during lockdowns, probably because, like prisoners, they had no life events like birthday parties and holidays to use as reference points to track how time was passing.’
