An effortless way to improve your memory
Takeaways:
A surprisingly effective method can enhance both short-term and long-term memory, benefiting everyone from students to Alzheimer’s patients. The key? Being intentional about giving your brain some down time.
It is easy to assume that working harder guarantees better performance. But studies show that by spending 10-15 minutes in quiet reflection, your memory improves far more than if you had tried to fill that time with intense study.
In 1900, a study showed that after participants learned a list of meaningless syllables, one group took a six-minute break before learning a second list, while the other continued and learned the new list immediately. When tested 90 minutes later, those who had rested remembered nearly 50% of the list, compared to 28% for those who didn’t. The results showed that newly encoded memories are fragile and prone to interference without time for consolidation.
More recently, this study was revisited and applied to those who had suffered a neurological injury, such as a stroke. The results were spectacular. In some cases, amnesic patients showed an 11-fold increase in the information they retained when given a rest during study.
The exact mechanism in the brain that causes this is still unknown, though some clues come from a growing understanding of memory formation. It is now well accepted that once memories are initially encoded, they pass through a period of consolidation that cements them in long-term storage.
The research shows that scheduling regular periods of mental rest, without distraction, could help us all hold onto new material a little more firmly. We live in an age of endless distraction and information overload. It is only natural that our brains benefit when given a chance to recharge.
By David Robson, for The BBC
Read the whole story.