long-term memory •

STATES CHRONICLE – According to a new study, new information sticks better if you workout four hours after a learning session. Researchers found that vigorous physical activity can boost memory but only if it is done after four hours.

Guillén Fernández, co-author of the study and researcher at the Netherlands-based Radboud University Medical Center, said that sports indeed consolidates the memory but only if it is done right.

The study involved 72 adults who were asked to remember as many picture-space associations as they could in a 40 minute learning session. Next participants were divided into three groups.

The first group was asked to hit the gym immediately, the second group was asked to do some workout four hours later, while the third group did not exercise at all. The groups that exercised were asked to spend 35 minutes on a bike and ensure that their pulse hits 80 percent of their maximum heart rate.

After exactly two days, participants from all groups were called to test their long-term memory. The volunteers’ also agreed to have their brains scanned through MRI while solving the tests.

The study revealed that participants who exercised within the 4-hour time frame had a higher score on memory tests than the individuals in the other two groups. Brain imagery showed that these people’s hippocampus was more active when trying to answer the questions correctly. The hippocampus is a region of the brain that helps with learning and information consolidation.

Study authors believe that timed workout can boost long-term memory and the learning ability. Scientists recommend the new findings to be applied in schools and health facilities alike.

Still, researchers couldn’t tell why the 4-hour time window is so important for information consolidation. They speculate that it may have something to do with the levels of a group of hormones that helps the long-term memory: the catecholamines. These hormones which include dopamine get released by the body during exercise.

As a follow-up, researchers plan to further analyze the timing of the exercise and its molecular impact on learning and long-term memory.

The study, which was funded by the European Research Council, was published Wednesday in the medical journal Current Biology.

The findings are consistent with past studies which had found an association between physical activity and better thinking and memory. For instance, a 2014 study found that people who engage in moderate physical exercise for at least six months on a regular basis have larger prefrontal and medial temporal cortexes, two regions in the brain that help the brain with processing and retaining information.

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Scientists have found a group of proteins that they claim are essential for the formation of long-term memories in humans.

The Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in Florida studied a family of proteins called Wnts that are responsible for memories in humans.

These proteins send signals from the outside to inner part of a cell, inducing a cellular response crucial for many aspects of embryonic development, including stem cell differentiation and normal functioning of the adult brain.

“By removing the function of three proteins in the Wnt signalling pathway, we produced a deficit in long-term but not short-term memory,” said Ron Davis, chair of the TSRI Department of Neuroscience.

“The pathway is clearly part of the conversion of short-term memory to the long-term stable form, which occurs through changes in gene expression,” Davis said.

Study

The scientists carried study on Drosophila, the common fruit fly – a widely used doppelganger for human memory studies, to probe the role of Wnt.

Scientists inactivated the expression of several Wnt signalling proteins in the mushroom bodies of adult flies – part of the fly brain that plays a role in learning and memory.

According to the researchers, the resulting memory disruption suggests that Wnt signalling participates actively in the formation of long-term memory, rather than having some general, non-specific effect on behaviour.

“What is interesting is that the molecular mechanisms of adult memory use the same processes that guide the early development of the organism, except that they are repurposed for memory formation,” Davis said.

“One difference, however, is that during early development the signals are intrinsic, while in adults they require an outside stimulus to create a memory,” he said.

The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.

Need Memory Boost Before Exams? Hit the Gym!

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