A new study finds that the brain mechanisms involved in learning get a good boost when people put their minds to rest to rest and reflect on what they have learned. The work has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
Resting the mind not only helps to strengthen memories, but, according to a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin (USA) helps to strengthen and consolidate memories of the last learning tasks, thus reinforcing future learning .
For their experiment, the experts gave the participants two learning tasks based on memorizing different series of pairs of photos . After this, the participants rested and were able to think about what they wanted at that moment. Brain scans revealed that those who used the break time to reflect on what they had learned the day before performed better on the learning tests the following day.
“ We have shown for the first time that the way the brain processes information during rest can improve future learning . We believe that replaying memories during the break makes those previous memories stronger, and they not only affect the original content, but affect the memories to come, ”says Alison Preston, co-author of the study.
According to the research, in some situations the opposite is true of what many scientists have previously assumed : that previous memories are prone to interfere with new learning. This discovery could help teachers design more effective ways of teaching for their students.
“ Nothing happens in isolation . When we are learning something new, we bring to mind all the things that we know that are related to that new information. In this way, new information is embedded in existing knowledge, ”explains Preston.
