Business Gazeteer

Published on 15/04/2009 21:19

POST-it notes for the memory

IF YOU'RE caught doodling in meetings again then you need to tell your boss that you're taking steps to improve your "working memory".

Dr Tracy Alloway, a "brain training expert" at Stirling University, has listed some of the steps office staff can take to improve their memory – and doodling is near the top.

"Working memory is our brain's Post-it note," explains Alloway, who is director of Stirling's centre for memory and learning in the lifespan.

"We use those little yellow slips of paper not only to jot down important information, but also to work with it, like when we use them to write down and cross out a to-do list. In the same way, working memory allows us to make mental scribbles of information we need to remember and think about."

People use working memory to stay focused during a meeting, creatively solve a complex problem, respond to questions thoughtfully or recall the name of an important client when distracted at a meeting.

Those who are better at remembering and working with new information do better in business, according to Alloway.

Her recommendations include crosswords, Sudoku, doodling and brain training computer games, particularly Jungle Memory, which she said was "found to improve literacy and numeracy" in clinical trials.

FACT OF THE DAY

4.2bn

ASSETS held by investment funds in the eurozone fell to 4.2 billion (3.7bn) at the end of December, according to the European Central Bank.

Investment funds' total assets had stood at 4.7bn at the end of September, the bank said yesterday.

The drop was blamed on a fall in "the amount outstanding of shares and other equity", from 1.4bn to 1.1bn during the final quarter of 2008.

Securities other than shares accounted for 40 per cent of the assets, up from 37 per cent in the quarter to the end of September.

KILLER QUOTE

"PEOPLE have an illusion that hybrid (cars] can solve all the problems… but hybrid models are less than 1 per cent of global car (sales]. If we do not improve the fuel efficiency of conventional cars, we cannot solve those problems."

Lee Hyun-soon, vice-chairman of South Korean car company Hyundai

GOOD DAY

Stornoway

P&O has added Stornoway to its 2010 cruising programme, with its Oriana and Artemis ships calling at the port for the first time in June and August. The Outer Hebrides will be taken in as part of P&O's two "round Britain" cruises, along with Belfast, Milford Haven and Newcastle.

BAD DAY

Glaswegian fliers

TRAVELLERS will have to climb out of their beds a wee bit earlier after British Airways brought its early morning flight from Glasgow to London city airport forward by 20 minutes. The plane will leave at 6:45am, giving visitors an extra 20 minutes in the capital but robbing them of those extra moments in bed.