L&D 2020: Shaping change in learning
Brain & Mind
Memory retention
Sleep deprivation is well known to hamper the retention of learning after studying, but research has shown the importance of sleeping well before studying1. People who fail to get a good night’s sleep remember less than well-rested individuals. Earlier sleep studies have been confirmed by using a wider cohort of subjects and the business world is taking note.
Companies have come to openly acknowledge the importance of sleep – not just to learning but in everyday work tasks – following a number of successful law suits. These include accidents involving sleep-deprived employees or stress-related claims for damages against employers. As a result, daily brain scanning has become an important part of every company’s well-being programme.
Sleep deprivation diminishes activity in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory processing. Too little sleep increases levels of stress hormone in the brain, which subsequently disrupts hippocampus nerve activity.
Sleep is a natural way to improve memory retention, as is learning design. Given the small capacity of working memory, many small bites of learning digested over time are known to be more efficient than large blocks of time spent in workshops2. Computer-aided ‘micro-learning’ has been commonly adopted, particularly for skills upgrades.
But artificial means to improve memory are also available. While the overall number of brain cells decreases as people age, new cells are generated in at least two areas of the brain throughout adulthood3.
10 years ago, researchers discovered these cells are involved in the formation of new memories. More recently, neural nanobot developments have created ways to stimulate growth in these new brain cells. Recent naobot initiatives are contributing to an improved retention of new knowledge and higher levels of information processing.
The newly generated cells modify existing neural circuits to incorporate and retain new information. Clinical trials have found these cells help older cells adapt to new conditions, such as the loss of neurons through disease.
In addition to neural nanobots, new drugs are available to improve memory. Scientists have learned that memories may be gone but not forgotten. Memory loss is often due to the inability to retrieve memories rather than memories having been irretrievably lost.
Rather than stimulating brain cell growth, these drugs restore lost memories by triggering the natural ‘rewiring’ between brain cells4. Until recently these drugs were only used to treat the neurodegenerative diseases associated with impaired learning and memory loss such as dementia. But non-prescription drugs are now available to learners in business and education settings.
1. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn11154-sleep-well-before-learning-something-new-.html New Scientist 02/07
2. The neuroscience of leadership: Rock, D. and Schwartz, J. Strategy and Business Issue 43, Summer 2006
3. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn11916-adultformed-brain-cells-important-for-memory.html New Scientist 05/07
4. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/dn11739-lost-memories-could-be-restored-by-rewiring-brain.html New Scientist 04/07
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