Sleep, Memory, and Learning

“Don't Knock Naps, They Make You Smarter” (USA Today Science Fair) and “Naps Clear Brain's Inbox, Improve Learning” (National Geographic Daily News) are news reports on research by Matthew Walker, University of California, Berkeley.  The research was described in a press release entitled “An Afternoon Nap Markedly Boosts the Brain’s Learning Capacity” but presented at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science under the title “Current Models of Mechanisms of Sleep-Dependent Memory.”  Here is an excerpt from USA Today Science Fair:

In the study, a group of 39 healthy young adults were divided into a nap and no-nap group. Each were given a difficult to-learn task at noon, designed to push hard on the hippocampus, the region of the brain that helps store fact-based memories. Research has shown that fact-based memories are first stored in the hippocampus, then moved to the prefrontal cortex for long-term storage.

Both groups did about the same.

At 2:00 PM in the afternoon the nap group got a 90-minute siesta.  Then at 6:00 PM both groups got a new set of learning tasks. The ones who hadn't gotten any shut-eye did markedly worse. Those who had caught 40 winks did much better and improved their capacity to learn.

Walker says this helps confirm his group's hypothesis, that sleep clears the brain's short-term memory storage to make room for new learning.

The interdisciplinary numbers for sleep, memory, and learning are in psychology.  The interdisciplinary number for sleep is 154.6 Sleep phenomena, e.g., The Mind in Sleep: Psychology and Psychophysiology. The number for memory is 153.12 Memory, e.g., Memory. The number for learning is 153.15 Learning, e.g., Human Learning.   Many works treat memory and learning together; they are classed in 153.1 Memory and learning, e.g., Learning and Memory: Basic Principles, Processes, and Procedures.  According to the rule of application, works about the effect of sleep on memory and learning are classed with memory and learning (see also Introduction section 5.7 [A]).

Works on the physiology of human sleep, memory, and learning are classed in subdivisions of 612.82 Brain. Works that focus on sleep are classed in 612.821 Sleep phenomena, e.g., The Neuroscience of Sleep and The Physiologic Nature of Sleep.  Works that focus on memory are classed in 612.823312 Memory—human physiology (built with 612.8233 Conscious mental processes and intelligence plus 12 from 153.12 Memory, following instruction at 612.8233), e.g., Neural Plasticity and Memory: From Genes to Brain Imaging and Neuroimaging of Human Memory: Linking Cognitive Processes to Neural Systems.  Works that focus on learning are classed in 612.823315 Learning—human physiology (built with 612.8233 plus 15 from 153.15 Learning, following instruction at 612.8233), e.g., The Autonomous Brain: A Neural Theory of Attention and Learning.

Comments

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in my opinion you must to sleep 8 hours for day if you whant have a good day. if you sleep less, your energy not is the same