Imagine this: you spend weeks studying a foreign language by conjugating verb tenses, wrestling with unique spelling and wondering what in the world makes “turnip” feminine in Italian but masculine in Spanish. But then when it comes time to put all that work into practice, you draw a blank. The anomia kicks in. The right word escapes you. And you can’t remember a single thing.
It’s a familiar struggle. But it’s also a distinctly grown-up one. Children have a knack for soaking up new languages around them without the need for flashcards or grammar drills. For adults, it’s usually a matter of hitting the books.
But what’s the secret behind making all that learning stick?
For Zhenghan Qi, a communication sciences and disorders professor at Northeastern University Bouvé College of Health Sciences the answer may hinge on what happens long after the books close — sleep.
“Sleep is an active part of learning and memory,” Qi said, referring to previous research that provides solid evidence for this idea.
While a memory might form during the day, there’s no guarantee it will take root, clinical sleep educator Lauri Leadley told Northeastern Global News. Leadley is the founder and president of Valley Sleep Center, a sleep diagnostics center in the Greater Phoenix area.
Sleep is the time when the brain “reviews and organizes what we experienced and learned during the day, so a day of study or learning can translate to better recall of the information,” she said.
Qi, who is exploring this topic in an ongoing study, has found that keeping new information from slipping away is partially about planning your study sessions strategically to take advantage of the work the brain does at night.
Read more at Northeastern Global News
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