Will she ask me to be her Valentine and invite me to dance? Will I be able to waltz without stepping on her feet? Complex movements like dancing require not just motivation but memory. Now, on what’s considered the most Romantic Holiday in the U.S., our memories are being put to the test. It’s time to unzip our brains.
Literally. A new study shows that we complete tasks by zipping and unzipping our brains to move information around. Researchers monitored brain activity as 24 people learned and memorized sequences of notes on a keyboard. They observed that the order and timing of movements are managed separately, then zipped together by the brain into movement commands.
“Perhaps this unzipping mechanism helps us to stay flexible for adjustments, even in the final hundreds of milliseconds before we start the movement,” says study author Katja Kornysheva. If you catch yourself about to make an errant dance step, you can change course and at least avoid stomping on your partner’s foot. Thanks, brain!
And if you’re finding it impossible to learn a new dance step, boosting your cinnamon intake is not a bad strategy. Cinnamon has long been recognized for its antioxidant, antibiotic, and anti-inflammatory properties that may counteract various diseases. Ground from the bark of the Cinnamomum tree, its authentic version has been ascribed medicinal uses since at least 2000 BC.
Now, in a recent review of 40 studies to date, cinnamon is also implicated in memory. Report study authors, "In vivo studies showed that using cinnamon or its components, such as eugenol, cinnamaldehyde, and cinnamic acid, could positively alter cognitive function." For example, a study of teens witnessed lower anxiety and better memory in those who chewed cinnamon gum. It might not be a bad option to keep your breath fresh for that Valentine’s Day dance date, either.
The thing is, if you’re so anxious about the date that you lose sleep over it, you’re not likely to dance well. Sleep deprivation impairs memory processing in the hippocampal region of the brain. Normally, your hippocampus would consolidate your memories during your sleep. Just like a professor might warn students “that an overnighter is not helping them prepare for an exam,” you can figure your sleep loss will undercut your Valentine’s Day dance skills.
The good news is that a recent study found that information is not irretrievably lost, it’s just difficult to retrieve from storage. With drug treatment combined with neuronal stimulation, mice were able to get their memories back for where objects were stored. The bad news is that you’re not likely to convince a doc to control your neuronal activity just to spare you embarrassment at the dance.
So, best to review “Why we remember, and forget. And what we can do about it,” by two neurology experts. And check out new findings about brain growth linked to certain edible mushrooms.
