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Memory Links to 40 Winks
When it comes to executing items on tomorrow’s to-do list, it’s best to
think it over, then “sleep on it,” say psychologists at Washington
University in St. Louis.
People who sleep after processing and storing a memory carry out their
intentions much better than people who try to execute their plan before
getting to sleep. The researchers have shown that sleep enhances our
ability to remember to do something in the future, a skill known as
prospective memory.
Moreover, researchers studying the relationship between memory and sleep
say that our ability to carry out our intentions is not so much a
function of how firmly that intention has been embedded in our memories.
Rather, the trigger that helps carry out our intentions is usually a
place, situation or circumstance -- some context encountered the next
day -- that sparks the recall of an intended action.
These are the key findings from a study published online this month in
Psychological Science of the relationship between memory and sleep.
Researchers Michael Scullin, doctoral candidate in psychology, and his
adviser, Mark McDaniel, PhD, professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences,
are focusing on “prospective memory” -- things we intend to do -- as
opposed to “retrospective memory” -- things that have happened in the
past.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010-/06/100630162359.htm
Cognition and Memory Improve Dramatically in Mice When Brain
Compound Levels Were Decreased - For the first time, scientists have
linked a brain compound called kynurenic acid to cognition, possibly
opening doors for new ways to enhance memory function and treat
catastrophic brain diseases, according to a new study from the
University of Maryland School of Medicine. When researchers decreased
the levels of kynurenic acid in the brains of mice, their cognition was
shown to improve markedly, according to the study, which was published
in the July issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. The study is
the result of decades of pioneering research in the lab of Robert
Schwarcz, Ph.D.,...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/-releases/2010/06/100630132848.htm
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