People who would like to improve their memory may benefit from taking a sleep right after they pick up new information, according to new research featured in the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.

Dr. Jeanne F. Duffy and her colleagues at the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) found that individuals remembered new information, such as names and faces of other people, considerably better if they were able to sleep for at least eight hours following the encounter.

While previous studies have explored the impact of sleep on the ability of people to remember new names and faces, the BWH paper is the first of its kind to investigate the effect of getting at least eight hours of sleep in between picking up new information and being evaluated.

The researchers discovered that when individuals are allowed to get a full night of sleep, they are able to correctly associate the names of people they have newly met with the faces that they have seen. These individuals also became more confident in their answers during testing.

In the study, Duffy and her team asked 14 individuals to look at 20 photographs of names and faces collected from a database of more than 600 images. They also told the participants to try to memorize the different information shown to them.

After 12 hours, the research team then asked the participants to identify the names of the people in the photographs. The level of confidence for each individual was evaluated based on the responses provided.

The participants of the study were asked to complete the exercise twice. One round involved having the individuals go to sleep in between looking at the people in the photographs and identifying their names, and another round had them undergo regular waking activities in between the two actions.

The findings showed that the participants were able to match 12 percent more of the names and faces correctly after they were given the chance to have eight hours of sleep.

The BWH researchers note that further studies are needed using a larger sample size in order to verify the results of their investigation. The recent study only tested healthy individuals who are in their 20s.

"Sleep is important for learning new information," Duffy said.

"As people get older, they are more likely to develop sleep disruptions and sleep disorders, which may in turn cause memory issues."

Duffy explained that by addressing sleep issues, researchers may be able to develop ways to influence the ability of people across all age groups to take in new information.

Photo: Timothy Krause | Flickr