Want to remember something? Well, Sleep on it.…

Want to remember something? Well, Sleep on it. A recent study finds that the more we value a piece of information the more likely we'll default it during our sleep. And because we do that, we'll tend to remember it. Participants were shown objects with different corresponding dollar amounts on a computer screen. If participants could remember that subject later on a test, they were rewarded with the associated dollar amount. Objects were also accompanied by an associated sound, for install a cat was accompanied by a " meow". After either a 90-minute nap or wake period subjects' memory for low-value objects was worse than for high-value objects. But in a second experiment accumulated sounds were played either when the subjects were awake or asleep, as a way to trigger the memory of the object. Researchers found that low-value objects were better remembered when the associated sound was delayed during subjects' sleep as opposed to when they were awake. The authors believe that during sleep is when we tend to go over the day's new information, so that is why they could manipulate the memory storage of lower-value objects during sleep time rather than wake time. Gives new meaning to the firm sound asleep.