http://www.scientificamerican.com/podca ... e-12-03-24

A study, only one as far as I can make out, looked at memory retention based on time of day the information was learned. It found that subjects retained the information much better if they learned it closer to bed time than in the morning. So is this an argument for tsumego in the morning, theory in the evening?

Anyway, I found it interesting outside of anything go related.

Edit: I'm fully aware of the weakness of the analogy of simple information and complex information like go theory!

Interesting. When I learned some of this stuff, nobody had found any effect of sleep on learning. One thing they apparently did not control for in this reseaerch is whether people were early birds or night owls. (More people are night owls. Perhaps night owls learn better at night, early birds in the morning.) Also what about the effect of naps during the day?

Also, FWIW, I used to read in bed. When I fell asleep reading, I would have no memory of the last 2-3 pages I had read. If sleep enhances learning, how come?

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

You don't remember the last minutes before sleep. It's got something to do with the fact that your brain is in a transitory state, but it's been years since I studied this so I can't remember the details. You should be able to find this information on the internets.

And sleep doesn't enhance learning, but some argue that it helps with retention. For example. If you have a nap after a study session, some argue that during the nap/sleep memory is crystallized. I don't know whether this is true or not, but I think it's a plausible theory.

Hmmm... If you had no memory of them how do you know you read them, as opposed to perhaps dreaming that you read them?

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

I would wake up with the light on and the book open to a page I had no memory of reading, that was a page or two ahead of where I remembered. It is true that I might have just turned the page or pages in my sleep. I also had the experience of writing in my journal while falling asleep and having no memory of what I had written.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Sometimes when I read the newspaper I have no idea what I have just been reading. I have to reread the last sentences. It happens mostly when I am tired, had a glass too many, the article is boring, my mind is wandering or when I pretend to be listening to my wife during reading. Reading unconsciously I would call it. Maybe likewise happens to you, Bill, as well.