On an everyday basis, more and more research is found on the way our brains operate. The article being discussed is titled “Study Shows How Our Brains Replay Recent Experiences During Sleep,” by George Dvorsky. This article addresses a research study that looks into memory storage during sleep. A study designed to look at the way our brain operates during sleep is also beneficial due to its role in proposing future research.
Memory consolidation is involved with memory-storage, and is the process where one remembers newly formed memories. Looking into addressing memory consolidation is important because it can be used in many different aspects. The researchers used two people with quadriplegia, implanted them with sensors to track the parts of the brain responsible for movement. Looking at the repeated activation of recent experiences and how they retained information after memorizing a pattern and taking a nap, the quadriplegics brain patterns were shown to match. This study showed the first direct evidence of learning-associated replay in the human brain.
The results of this research are important because not only do they show us how important sleep is for memory recall, it draws a very important parallel between sleep and learning. Majority of college students who try to achieve the best possible score on a midterm or final believe that pulling an all-nighter and not sleeping is the best way to achieve the highest score. According to this new research study, we see that this method of studying is actually counterproductive and can be harmful towards memory recall. So next time you consider studying for an exam all night, remember the importance of sleep and how without it then the information you’re learning is not going to be retained.
https://gizmodo.com/study-shows-how-our-brains-replay-recent-experiences-du-1843259411
Leave a Reply