Daydream retriever
Letting your mind wander can improve memory, study finds
PUPILS are often told off for sitting with their brains in neutral – but it may be that the best thing teachers can do is leave them to daydream.
Research by Scottish scientists suggests a few minutes of ‘wakeful rest’ is a natural part of brain function and can be invaluable in sharpening the mind.
Students who were asked to recall a route map after allowing their mind to wander were around 50 per cent better at finding their way than those who were not.
It is thought the reason for the improvement is that the region of the brain used in navigation – the hippocampus – needs time to relive an experience, without dwelling on it, to aid recall.
In the past, eminent scientists including Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton have claimed that they have done some of their best thinking while daydreaming but little research exists to back this up.
The study on ‘wakeful rest – when the person is allowed to sit or lie undisturbed, perhaps with eyes closed, but not to nap – was carried out by the department of psychology at Edinburgh University.
Lead author Dr Michael Craig said: ‘Wakeful rest can improve the integration of new spatial memories in humans, a function that has, hitherto, been associated with sleep. In humans, rest promotes the consolidation of specific experiences, but the effect of rest on the wider integration of memories remained unknown. The improvement in cognitive map accuracy was indeed the result of our wakeful rest manipulation.’
In a test, 40 adults of both sexes were driven as ‘passengers’ through a computer-game style, virtual reality town. Half were then allowed to daydream, the other half played a spot-the-difference game for ten minutes.
All were then asked to recall where land- marks such as supermarkets, churches and bars were while driving back through the town. All but one of the wakeful rest group were able to learn the route within two practice runs.
But those who played the game had an error rate almost 50 per cent greater.
The brain has two hippocampi, one on each side. They play important roles in the consolidation of information to long-term memory and spatial navigation.
In Alzheimer’s disease, the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage.
Dr Craig said the findings of the study – published in the journal Hippocampus – ‘could have implications for people with spatial memory problems – i ncluding patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment/Alzheimer’s disease, who often get lost and who have been shown to benefit substantially from rest in verbal memory tests’.