Taking short breaks is the key to helping the brain acquire new skills

Bethesda, Maryland — Learning new skills is a great way to enrich your life, challenge yourself and keep your mind sharp. Of course, completing a new craft is almost always difficult to do. At some point we all give up on projects and new hobbies out of complete frustration. If you are struggling to master a particular activity, researchers at the National Institutes of Health recommend taking a short break to recharge your mind.

A team at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) mapped the flow of neural activity in the brain while someone was learning a new skill. Along the way, they found that a few short breaks during skill practice and learning helped them settle. why? During the break, participants’ brains showed exactly the same pattern of activity as they were learning and practicing the new code, but at a much faster, continuous and quicker pace. The more the volunteer’s mind regenerated this neural activity, the better the performance in subsequent practice sessions.

What does this mean when it comes to learning new things?

The authors of the study theorize that taking a break gives the brain some time. Repeatedly replay compressed memory It is related to the skill someone is practicing. In short, rest strengthens and strengthens the memory of practice and learning.

“Our result is Awakening rest It plays as important a role as practice in learning new skills. It seems like it’s time for our brains to compress and integrate memories of what we just practiced, “said Dr. Leonardo G. Cohen, study author and senior researcher at NINDS. Media release.. “Understanding this role of nerve regeneration not only helps shape the way new skills are learned, but may also help patients recover skills lost after nerve damage such as stroke. not.”

Researchers used a high-sensitivity scanning technique called. Magnetoencephalography You learned how to record the EEG activity of 33 healthy right-handed volunteers and enter a 5-digit test code with your left hand. Each person entered as much code as possible for 10 seconds, then rested for 10 seconds. Each volunteer completed this exercise 35 times. Participants saw a dramatic increase in typing speed from the beginning, but leveled off in the 11th attempt.

Is it better to take a break from learning immediately than to sleep?

Dr. Cohen’s team previously said that most “learning effects” (such as typing code faster) appear to occur in the brain during short rests rather than during actual activity. It was established. Surprisingly, previous studies have concluded that the learning outcomes obtained during short breaks are greater than the learning outcomes obtained. After sleeping overnight..

“We wanted to explore the mechanisms behind the memory enhancement seen during awake rest. Some forms of memory appear to depend on the regeneration of neural activity, so procedural skills. We decided to test this idea for learning, “adds Dr. Ethan R. Buck, a research leader who is a staff scientist on Dr. Cohen’s team.

So, for this latest study, the team has developed a program that allows you to focus on the EEG activity associated with entering individual numbers in the test code. The program revealed exactly the same patterns of brain activity seen during learning and practice. Continue during the break, But at a pace about 20 times faster. In the first 11 cycles, participants’ brains repeated this neural pattern an average of 25 times per 10-second rest period. This is two to three times the brain activity recorded during the rest period or after the end of the experiment.

“In the early stages of the learning curve, we found that the regeneration of awake rest was time-compressed, frequent, and a highly variable predictor of new skills acquisition among individuals.” Dr. Buch said: “This suggests that during awake rest, the brain connects the memories needed to acquire new skills.”

Where does all this learning take place?

Much of this brain activity was located within the sensorimotor areas of the brain responsible for controlling movement. However, researchers also recorded some activity in both the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex.

“We were a little surprised by these latest results. Traditionally, it was thought that the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex may not play such a substantial role in procedural memory. In addition, our results suggest that these areas are rapidly chattering with the sensorimotor cortex when acquiring these types of skills, “concludes Dr. Cohen. Overall, our results support the idea that manipulating replay activities during awake rest may be a powerful tool researchers can use to help individuals. Learn new skills Faster and probably easier rehabilitation from stroke. “

Team announced Survey results In the diary Cell report.