Memory Test

In Dancer's science we are studying body systems, right now we are on the nervous system.  Today we are talking about sleep and what purpose it serves.  Some studies show that sleep is a time when the brain processes and stores information (others disagree).  Researchers also speculate that the brain does this learning work during REM sleep.

This is an experiment we did to see if sleep aids learning.  Look at these 10 words early in the day. 

horseshoe, category, sphinx, civilian, opinion, animate, utility, segment, independent, magnify

Study them for 10 minutes, keeping in mind you will be asked to recall them later.  After about eight hours ask your subject to recall the words.

Before bed have your subject study this second list of words for 10 minutes. 

quantity, medicine, funnel, target, latitude, scavenger, ornament, graceful, stadium, journalist

In the morning, after an appropriate de-groggifying period, have your guinea pig recall as many words on the list as they can.  Dancer could recall five words from the 1st list and nine from the 2nd list.  In this case the sleep seems to have aided in recall.