Sleep and Memory
Written by Studio AM.
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Sleep looks like a pause, but the brain remains active. Some of that activity is linked to what we have learned while awake.
In a study of rats, researchers recorded groups of brain cells during a task and during sleep. Cells that had fired together during the task were more likely to fire together again afterward. This reactivation helped researchers investigate how recent experiences might become more lasting memories.
Human experiments also explore sleep and learning. In one study, people learned single words and word pairs, then either had a chance to nap or watched videos. Memory for the word pairs was better preserved in the nap group. Memory for the single words declined in both groups. The result shows why the kind of task matters when interpreting a study.
New memories can be fragile. Processes that stabilise and reorganise them are called consolidation. Sleep can support these processes, but memory does not become a perfect copy stored in a permanent box. For learners, the practical point is to make time for both study and sleep, rather than treat them as competing activities.
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Questions
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Question 1 of 4
What is the passage mainly arguing?
The answer is D: Sleep can support memory, but its effects need to be understood in context.
The passage links sleep with memory processing and uses the different results for words and word pairs to show why broad guarantees are misleading.
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Question 2 of 4
What do researchers see in the brains of sleeping animals?
The answer is A: Cells that fired together during the task were more likely to fire together again during later sleep.
The study found increased reactivation of groups of cells involved in the earlier task. It did not show that all activity was identical.
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Question 3 of 4
Why would 'a nap improves every memory task' be a poor summary of the human study?
The answer is B: The nap group's advantage for word pairs did not extend to single words.
Word-pair memory was better preserved after a nap, but single-word memory declined in both groups. The conclusion needs to reflect that difference.
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Question 4 of 4
What does 'fragile' suggest about a new memory?
The answer is C: It can be easily lost or disrupted.
The following sentence describes processes that stabilise memories. 'Fragile' means a memory is not yet secure and can be disrupted.
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