Take A Nap: Daytime Sleep Helps With Learning

New a nap to recap?

New findings published in the journal eLife show that getting a little sleep during the day may help improve learning, cementing new facts and skills.

"During sleep, that information is favourably consolidated over information associated with a low reward and is transferred to areas of the brain associated with long-term memory," said lead researcher Dr Kinga Igloi from the University of Geneva, in a news release. "Our findings are relevant for understanding the devastating effects that lack of sleep can have on achievement."

During the study, researchers collected data from 31 people who were randomly assigned to either a sleep group or a ‘wake' group. They analyzed the sensitivity of both groups to reward, which was assessed as being equal. Participants brains were then scanned while they were trained to remember eight pairs of pictures would elicit a higher reward.

After a 90-minute break of either sleep or rest, the participants were tested on their memory for the pairs and asked to rate how confident they were about giving a correct answer. Participants were also asked to take part in a surprise test of exactly the same nature three months later.

Findings revealed that the sleep group performed best when it came to remembering highly rewarded picture pairs. Furthermore, during the surprise test three months later participants who had slept after learning were selectively better for the highly rewarded pairs-with those who slept also showing higher signs of confidence in remembering the pictures.

Lastly, with the help of MRI scans, the study revealed that the sleep group experienced greater activity of the hippocampus-a part of the brain that's critical for forming memories. The sleep group also showed increased connectivity between the hippocampus, the medial prefrontal cortex and the striatum, according to researchers; these areas are important for processing reward and memory consolidation.

"We already knew that sleep helps strengthens memories, but we now also know that it helps us select and retain those that have a rewarding value," said Igloi. "It makes adaptive sense that the consolidation of memory should work to prioritise information that is critical to our success and survival."

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