Your brain learns better if it can take a break

You can’t learn a language in a day, unless you’re taking lots of naps. It’s been found that learning complex systems, such as a language with occasional irregular words, are extremely difficult to absorb all at once. Examples may be used to identify rules of the language, but without a period of rest, those rules can’t really be understood well enough to be put to use. The most immediate applications of these concerns are in developing reading curricula.

According to Kathy Rastle from Royal Holloway, “The research suggests exceptions should not be introduced until children have already consolidated the standard rule after a good night’s sleep, otherwise, they will not develop the necessary knowledge required.”

None of this is terribly surprising, as many almost everyone is familiar with the idea that you need to start with a basic foundation before adding complexity when learning something new. But now the research will hopefully start pinning down what our brains are doing doing these periods of rest that allow for more complex ideas to be absorbed.

Source: New Information Absorbed Best After A Good Night’s Sleep, Neuroscience News