Taking short breaks can help you learn new skills

Our brains probably take short rest breaks to reinforce their memories.

If you are learning new skills, taking short breaks can help you understand them better, the researchers say.

The study, published in the journal Current Biology, suggests that our brains probably take short periods of rest to reinforce their memories.

"Everyone thinks it's" practicing, practicing and practicing "to learn something new," said co-author Leonardo G. Cohen of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. in the USA. "We discovered that resting, early and often, could be just as important for learning as practice," Cohen said.

For the study, the researchers recorded the brainwaves of a group of right-handed volunteers using an extremely sensitive scanning technique called magnetoencephalography or MEG.

They were asked to type numbers as many times as possible with their left hands for 10 seconds, then to rest for 10 seconds and repeat the cycle until they typed the numbers. 35 once again.

The results showed that the speed at which volunteers typed the numbers improved dramatically in the first few trials and then stabilized around the 11th cycle. This suggests that volunteer performance improved mainly during short breaks and not during the strike, the team said.

By examining brainwaves, the researchers also found patterns of activity suggesting that participants' brains consolidated or consolidated memories during rest.

Specifically, they found that changes in brain wave size, called beta rhythms, correlated with improvements made by volunteers during rest periods. The team plans to explore, in detail, the role of these early rest periods in learning and memory.

Indo-Asian Information Service