How verb aspect influences memory and behavior

This research report on Physorg provides more support for examining our language for its influence on our behavior. Simply changing from "I was doing" to "I did" improved memory of actions and subsequent performance on word puzzles. The researchers theorized that the "imperfective" ("I was doing") caused participants to see action as ongoing, which gave them better access to detail. In contract, using "perfective" ("I did") seems to imply that the action is over and thus less accessible. This might have implications for cognitive behavioral therapy, where a change from "I was doing" to "I did" might help the patient see former negative behavior as "over" and thus less likely to be repeated.

Thus we can see a direct effect of deliberately changing how we describe events, even when the change is simply mandated as a part of a study. Imagine how much more such changes might have if we deliberately choose them expressly for the purpose of influencing our perceptions and experience of events!