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A team of scientists  think they’ve learned something profound about how memory works, and what they’ve learned is going to help you learn to speak Spanish.  What they’ve learned is “how cellular changes in the sleeping brain promote the formation of memories”. (The team is led by Marcos Frank, a Phd and Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and his Phd colleague Dr. Sara Aton).

What some people have know intuitively for ages (mothers, for instance), scientists have now confirmed in the laboratory.  The brain builds new neural connections, and strengthens older ones, at night when we’re sleeping.  “It’s like you’ve thrown a switch”, says Dr. Frank.  Synaptic changes are the very foundation of creating memory, and when you sleep, the mechanisms for creating those changes are turned on.

“That’s fundamentally what we think the machinery of memory is, the actual making and breaking of connections between neurons,” Dr. Frank explains.

Cortical Plasticity (did you think I wasn’t going to get to that?) is the key.  It used to be thought that the mechanics of memory were fixed in adults.  Not so. What scientists call Cortical Representations aren’t fixed, and they’re continuously changed by our life experiences. But the majority of all that building and modifying happens when we sleep.  The sleeping brain is very different, fundamentally different,  from the waking brain.

The study involves enzymes being released, molecules becoming excited and mechanisms becoming engaged  (sounds kinda erotic when you put it that way).  And it only examines how memories are made, not how they are recalled.  But when you consider that we don’t even really understand why humans sleep, this study will go a long way toward a better understanding of both memory and sleep.

The bottom line for those of us studying Spanish — don’t pull “all nighters”.  They actually have the OPPOSITE effect of what you intended.   Study, then sleep on it.  Get a full nights sleep and you will remember more of what you studied than if you had spent the entire night going over your material.  And although none of the scientists actually say this, my take on it is this:  Study just before you go to bed.  If you’re having trouble with the subjunctive, review the things you’re having trouble remembering and then “hit the hay”.   See if that doesn’t help.

If you would like to read more aboout Cortical Representational Plasticity, here are some helpful links:

National Center for Biotechnology Information

The University of Pennsylvania

The National Institute of Health

Wikipedia

Photo courtesy of Bistra1

Tags:   brain · learning · Learning Spanish · memory · MexicoNo Comments