Category: Memory

The unexpected way to make memories stick—without any extra effort.

Just 10 minutes sitting quietly after learning something new is enough to boost people’s memory, research finds.

Quiet resting does not just help us remember, it also increases how much detail we subsequently recall.

Dr Michael Craig, who led the study, said:

“Recent research suggests that the memory system strengthens weak new memories by ‘reactivating’ them, where brain activity first observed during learning automatically reappears in the minutes that follow.

This appears especially true during sleep and quiet resting, when we’re not busy taking in any new sensory information.

We think that quiet resting is beneficial because it is conducive to the strengthening of new memories in the brain, possibly by supporting their automatic reactivation.

However, we don’t know exactly how this rest-related memory strengthening works.

Specifically, it remained unknown whether quiet resting only allows us to retain more information, or whether it also helps us to retain more detailed memories.”

People were shown a series of photos in the study — some were exactly the same as those they had seen before, and some were similar.

Those who rested after learning for just 10 minutes were better at spotting the subtly different photos.

Dr Craig explained:

“In this memory test, peoples’ ability to discriminate between ‘old’ and ‘similar’ photos provides a measure of how detailed stored memories are.

If detailed memories are stored, people should notice subtle differences in similar photos, and correctly respond ‘similar’.

However, if not-so detailed memories are stored, people should miss the subtle differences in similar photos, and mistake them for ‘old’ photos.

Interestingly, we found that younger adults who quietly rested in the minutes that followed the photo presentation were better at noticing subtle differences in similar photos, suggesting that these individuals stored more detailed memories, compared to those who did not rest.

This new finding provide the first evidence that a brief period of quiet rest can help us to retain more detailed memories.”

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Craig et al., 2018).

Higher consumption of these foods was linked to improved memory by the study.

Eating more fruits and vegetables protects against memory loss, research finds.

Fruits and vegetables also help reduce the risk of heart disease.

Higher consumption of protein-rich foods was also linked to improved memory by the study.

A previous study, though, found that it is vegetables, more so than fruits, that really help to preserve memory.

Green leafy vegetables showed the strongest association with a better memory in that study.

More than two servings of vegetables per day was linked to the slowest rates of cognitive decline in older people.

Vegetables contain high amounts of vitamin E, which lowers the risk of cognitive decline.

Green leafy vegetables are also a key component of the MIND diet, which is frequently linked to memory improvements and reducing the risk of dementia.

Two other foods in the Mediterranean diet that have been individually linked to improved memory are nuts and mushrooms.

The Western diet

Set against these beneficial foods, one of the main enemies of healthy brain aging is sugar.

Eating too much sugar is linked to brain shrinkage.

Similarly, red meats, organ meats, butter and high-fat dairy can increase Alzheimer’s risk.

Unfortunately, these last two sentences pretty much define the so-called ‘Western diet’.

In other words, what many eat in the modern Western world is bad for the memory and bad for the brain overall.

Brain benefits of cereals

The latest study included 139,096 older Australians who were tracked over almost a decade.

Along with the finding that fruits, vegetables and protein improved memory, the researchers also found that cereals may be protective for those over 80.

Dr Luna Xu, the study’s first author, said:

“Our present study implies that the healthy eating suggestions of cereals consumption in the prevention of memory loss and comorbid heart disease for older people may differ compared to other age groups.”

Memory loss is one of the most common early symptoms of dementia.

People suffering from dementia often have other conditions, said Dr Xu:

“The dietary intervention in chronic disease prevention and management, by taking into consideration the fact that older populations often simultaneously deal with multiple chronic conditions, is a real challenge.”

Diet is key to fighting these conditions, said Dr Xu:

“To achieve the best outcome for our ageing population, strong scientific evidence that supports effective dietary intervention in preventing and managing co-occurring chronic conditions, is essential.”

The study was published in the International Journal of Public Health (Xu et al., 2020).

Boosting your recall is simpler than you think.

Instead of relying on complicated techniques or intense concentration, these five easy memory hacks can help you recall information more effectively.

From reading things out loud to linking them with quirky memories, and even not writing things down, these methods might seem unconventional, but they work.

1. Read it out loud

Simply reading something out loud is the easiest way to boost your memory.

The action of speaking something out loud and hearing yourself say it helps boost long-term memory.

Psychologists call this ‘the production effect’: we remember things better when we read them out loud than when we read silently to ourselves.

2. Link it to other weird memories

Memories that last a lifetime need to be linked to lots of other memories, plus they need to be a bit weird.

Professor Per Sederberg, an expert on memory, thinks the idea of peculiarity is vital to understanding memory:

“You have to build a memory on the scaffolding of what you already know, but then you have to violate the expectations somewhat.

It has to be a little bit weird.”

This ‘scaffolding’ means connections to other memories, and weird memories stand out more.

3. Recall related things together

Clustered recall is the key to remembering what really happened, eyewitness research finds.

This means remembering things from one category at a time.

So, if you were trying to remember what you did last Thursday, start with the location and concentrate on that.

Next, remember everything you can about what you were doing, next what people said, and so on.

The study used the same technique to test people’s memory for a video of a woman being mugged.

4. Don’t write it down

Making notes can actually reduce what you remember.

In a reverse of what many people expect, writing down information causes it to be flushed from memory.

We seem to intentionally forget what we write down.

So, be careful what you make a note of, especially if you think you might lose the notes!

5. Tell someone else

Telling someone else a piece of information helps you to remember more.

People in the study who immediately told others a piece of information could remember more later and they remembered it for longer.

Trying to explain the information to someone else can be tiring, but the effort is worth it.

How to reduce memories of negative events.

Consciously trying to suppress emotions helps people forget bad memories, research finds.

People in the study found it harder to recall a negative image a week later if they were told to suppress it.

The study’s authors also tested a form of implicit or unconscious suppression.

This involves suggesting to someone that they should forget a negative memory.

The results showed this also worked, but was not as powerful as explicitly trying to suppress a negative memory.

Professor Sanda Dolcos, who led the study, said:

“Our interest in conducting this study started with a desire to identify alternative ways to help people with depression.

Friends and family of depressed people often say, ‘Get yourself together and control your emotions,’ but this is not so easy.

That’s why we are interested in implicit, or unconscious, emotional suppression.”

Brain scans revealed that emotional suppression reduced activity in the amygdala, an area of the brain critical for emotional processing.

People reported finding the negative images less troubling when they were told to suppress their emotions.

Mr Yuta Katsumi, the study’s first author, said:

“People with depression or other mood disorders tend to have trouble distancing themselves from their negative memories.

If we can help them remember less or forget those negative memories, then maybe they can reallocate that attention to something more positive in their lives.”

The study involved 17 people having fMRI brain scans while looking at images.

People were tested again a week later to track changes in the brain.

Mr Katsumi said:

“Suppressing emotions appears to reduce negative memories, whether you do that consciously or unconsciously.

But explicit emotional suppression takes effort.

You have to have enough cognitive resources to do that, and people with clinical conditions might not be able to afford those resources.”

The study was published in the journal Neuropsychologia (Katsumi et al., 2018).

Supplementation of this natural mineral can reverse memory loss and cognitive deficits.

Selenium is an essential nutrient found in many foods such as brazil nuts, fish, eggs, long-grain brown rice, beef, chicken, and milk.

This powerful antioxidant is important for our immune system, metabolism, thyroid function, and cognitive health.

According to a study, selenium can reverse the cognitive problems after a stroke and improve cognitive function including memory and learning.

Past studies have found that physical activity slows down age-related cognitive decline.

Exercise elevates the levels of upregulated proteins in the blood and one is selenoprotein P (SEPP1) that transports selenium to the brain.

Dr Tara Walker, the study’s senior author, said:

“We’ve known for the last 20 years that exercise can create new neurons in the brain, but we didn’t really understand how.”

The researchers wanted to know whether selenium supplements can mimic the effects of exercise on the aging brain.

In this experiment, mice were given Seleno-L-methionine (a form of selenium) for a month.

Dr Walker said:

“Our models showed that selenium supplementation could increase neuron generation and improve cognition in elderly mice.

The levels of new neuron generation decrease rapidly in aged mice, as they do in humans.

When selenium supplements were given to the mice, the production of neurons increased, reversing the cognitive deficits observed in aging.”

The research team also examined if selenium can reverse memory loss and improve learning function in people with brain injury after a stroke.

Dr Walker said:

“Young mice are really good at the learning and memory tasks, but after a stroke, they could no longer perform these tasks.

We found that learning and memory deficits of stroke affected mice returned to normal when they were given selenium supplements.”

However, a high intake of selenium supplementation in the long-term can cause serious health issue, thus, foods containing selenium seem to be a much better option.

Nuts, seafoods, legumes, eggs, whole grains, meat, and dairy products all contain selenium and so they can easily be added to the diet of the elderly and those with disability who are unable to exercise.

Dr Dr Walker added:

“Selenium supplements shouldn’t be seen as a complete substitute for exercise, and too much can be bad for you.

A person who is getting a balanced diet of fruits, nuts, veggies and meat usually has good selenium levels.

But in older people, particularly those with neurological conditions, selenium supplements could be beneficial.”

The study was published in the journal Cell Metabolism (Leiter et al., 2022).