Zapping
Sleepers' Brains Boosts Memory
By
Roxanne Khami
Source: New
Scientist
Applying
a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can
significantly boost memory, researchers report.
A
small new study showed that half an hour of this brain
stimulation improved students’ performance at a verbal
memory task by about 8%. The approach enhances memory
by creating a form of electrical current in the brain
seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.
Jan
Born at the University of Luebeck in Germany, and colleagues,
recruited 13 healthy medical students for the study and
gave them a list of word associations, such as “bird”
and “air”, to learn late in the evening. Afterwards,
researchers placed two electrodes on the forehead and
one behind each ear of the volunteers and let them sleep.
The
students’ various sleep stages were monitored using
an electroencephalogram (EEG) machine. When the students
entered a period of light sleep, Born’s team started
to apply a gentle current in one-second-long pulses, every
second, for about 30 minutes. The EEG readings revealed
that this current had put students into a deeper state
of sleep.
The
next morning, the students performed about 8% better on
the word memory test than when they underwent the same
type of memory experiment without brain stimulation.
Born
believes this memory boost was due to the pattern of the
applied current mimicking that seen in naturally occurring
deep sleep, where memory consolidation is thought to take
place.
Strong
brain currents in this stage of sleep probably cause more
intense nerve firing, he says, which might enhance activity
in the brain’s memory centre, the hippocampus.
Some
researchers are sceptical of Born's "mimicking deep
sleep" theory, however. Felipe Fregni at the Harvard
Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation in Boston, US,
says that he and other scientists have shown that brain
stimulation with non-sleep-type currents can produce similar
memory enhancements.
There
is growing evidence that brain stimulation might one day
help improve memory in patients with dementia or other
forms of cognitive impairment, experts say.
“It
could be very useful to restore function in people with
brain injury,” says Daniel Herrera at Weill Medical
College of Cornell University in New York, US, who has
studied the effects of brain stimulation in rats.
Healthy
people might eventually try using this approach to maximise
their brainpower, Herrera says: “I think every single
medical student in the country might want to plug into
this type of device at home or in the dorm.” But
he stresses that applying electrical currents to the brain
might have unwanted side effects.
Born
also says he would be "a little hesitant” to
regularly use brain stimulation during sleep to boost
memory: “In the end we don’t know if there are
adverse side effects that we just don’t recognise
at the moment.”
Quality
Sleep Rescues Memories
Source:
BBC
Even facts "forgotten" by people during a busy
day may be retrieved if this is followed by a good night's
sleep.
Researchers from the University of Chicago asked volunteers
to remember simple words.
Many
found their memories letting them down towards the end
of the day, but the following morning, those who had slept
well could recall much more.
Researchers,
writing in the journal Nature, said the brain could "rescue"
lost memories during the night.
When
the brain is first asked to remember something, that memory
is laid down in an "unstable" state, meaning
that it is possible that it could be lost.
At
some point, the brain consolidates those it deems important
into a "stable", more permanent state.
However,
the Chicago researchers suggested that it was possible
for a "stable" memory to be made "unstable"
again - simply by the act of recalling it.
READ
THE FULL STORY HERE...
http://www.mindpowernews.com/SleepMemories.htm
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'Stolen'
Memories Investigated
SOURCE:
WorldScience.net
Memories may be the lifeblood of our identity. To some
extent, you are what you remember.
But
what if some of your memories aren’t really yours?
That might just be the case, says a group of psychologists
from Duke University in Durham, N.C., and the University
of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.
In
a new study, they seek to understand why some people seem
to take over other people’s memories.
In
past research, the team found that people, especially
twins but others as well, sometimes spar over who owns
a memory—and both can’t be right.
Thus,
“some of the memories in which we play a leading
role might in fact have been the experiences of others,”
they wrote in the new study, published in the February
issue of the research journal Genes, Brain and Behavior.
Many
twins have noticed the phenomenon for years. But the researchers,
one of whom is a twin herself, say they’re the first
to document it scientifically, along with its occurrence
among non-twins.
In
the new research, the psychologists re-analyzed data from
their past studies to try to understand why it occurs.
Their finding: although our appropriation of other people’s
memories is probably unintentional, it also tends to be
self-serving.
People
“claim for themselves memories for achievements and
suffered misfortunes but are more likely to give away
memories of personal wrongdoing,” they wrote. That’s
consistent other recent research findings, they added,
that have pointed to something obvious to many non-scientists:
most of us are often quite selfish.
READ
THE FULL STORY HERE...
http://www.mindpowernews.com/StolenMemories.htm
Switching
Off TV May Boost Memory
Source:
Reuters
Turning off the television, picking up a crossword and
eating more fish could be the key to a better memory,
an Australian survey has found.
Results
of the on-line survey of almost 30,000 people, conducted
as part of Australia's science week, also found people
who read fiction had better memories than those who don't,
while heavy drinkers found it more difficult to recall
names.
But
neuro-psychologist Nancy Pachana said television was not
necessarily bad for memory, with wider health and diet
and an active lifestyle more crucial to a good memory.
"Your
memory is dependent on good health and good mental health,"
Pachana, from the University of Queensland's school of
psychology, told Reuters Monday.
Dubbed
the National Memory Test, the quiz attracted 29,500 people
who were tested on tasks such as remembering a shopping
list, recalling names, faces and occupations, long-term
recall and spotting differences between two photographs.
Those
who took part in the test were asked to fill in a survey
on a range of habits, such as alcohol consumption, television
viewing and reading habits.
The
results found no differences between men and women, with
the same scores for both groups on all the tasks. But
it found television viewing had the main impact on results.
"Turn
off the box, or at least don't view too much of it,"
the survey results said, adding those who watched less
than one hour a day performed better at all memory tasks."
Those
who drank less than two alcoholic drinks a day performed
better at all memory tasks.
People
who did crosswords were better at remembering shopping
lists and recalling names, while eating fish once a week
improved the ability to remember shopping lists.
However,
it cautioned that while the test can give people an indication
of their memory, the results have not been tested for
statistical significance, and the internet survey meant
it was possible that people could have cheated or lied.
Pachana
said having an active mind was important for memory, and
some television programs could be good for helping to
improve the memory.
"TV
can be a really passive activity, while reading is active,
and any active activity is better," she said, adding
TV quiz shows and news programs could be good for the
mind.
"So
TV is not all that bad. It just might be taking time away
from doing something that is a bit more active for the
mind."
She
said health issues such as depression, obesity, lack of
sleep and being stressed or worried could have an impact
on a person's performance in a memory test.
The
test is available on-line at www.nationalmemorytest.net.au.
11-year-old
Boy Breaks World Memory Record
Source:
GulfNews.com
A child prodigy bested his own teacher to set a new world
record for memorising the most number of random objects,
thereby earning a place for himself in the Guinness Book
of Records.
Nischal
Narayanam, 11, looks like any other schoolboy but his
amazing memory has put him among the select brand of Guinness
world record holders.
A
Class 6 student of the Gitanjali School here, Nischal
achieved the feat by memorising 225 most random objects,
beating his own master, Squadron Leader Jayasimha, who
had set the record last year by memorising 200 objects.
Accompanied
by his proud parents, Nischal announced his entry to the
Guinness book at a news conference here yesterday, a day
after receiving the relevant certificate from Guinness
World Record Ltd.
READ
THE FULL STORY HERE...
http://www.mindpowernews.com/WorldMemoryRecord.htm
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