David Strayer never gets tired of watching his college students

tumble down the wilderness whirlpool into a new head space. Every
April, he takes his advanced psych class, called “Cognition in the
Wild,” to the desert for a few days of camping, exploration and yes, a
mental boost. Phone use is vigorously discouraged, not surprisingly.
Billing it as a seminar on how our mental experience is connected to
the environment, he’s been teaching it at the University of Utah for
eight years. The annual field trip is part of what’s driven him to
pursue his “three-day effect” theory, of senses, perspective and
cognition sharpening over time. This year, he invited me to see it
unfold and to try out his latest experiment building off last year’s