Novelty is the key to learning
Researchers from the UK and Germany have discovered that exposure to new experiences improves memory - that introducing new facts while learning improves memory performance. The discoveries, published in the journal Neuron, could help both those with impaired memories, and those wanting to learn quickly. The team found that the area of the brain associated with reward, known as the substantia nigra/ventral tegmental in the midbrain gives better responses to novel, rather than familiar, stimuli. Dr Emrah Düzel, from London's UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, said: 'We hope that these findings will have an impact on behavioural treatments for patients with poor memory. Current practice by behavioural psychologists aims to improve memory through repeatedly exposing a person to information - just as we do when we revise for an exam. This study shows that revising is more effective if you mix new facts in with the old. You actually learn better, even though your brain is also tied up with new information. Dr Düzel, who conducted the research with colleagues at the Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany, said: 'We thought that less familiar information would stand out as being significant when mixed with well-learnt, very familiar information and so activate the midbrain region just as strongly as absolutely new information. That was not the case. Only completely new things cause strong activity in the midbrain area.' Subjects were exposed to two experiments. In the first, the team tried to discover whether the brain responded more strongly to old or new information. Subjects were shown images while undergoing scanning with an fMRI scanner, which gives the researchers measures of blood flow. The team gave the subjects a variety of images, some with emotional content, such as a car accident, but the reward area - the midbrain - only responded to new images. 'It is a well-known fact amongst scientists that the midbrain region regulates our levels of motivation and our ability to predict rewards by releasing dopamine in the frontal and temporal regions of the brain,' said Dr Düzel. 'We have now shown that novelty activates this brain area. We believe that experiencing novelty might, in itself, have an impact on our dopamine levels. Our next project will be to test the role of dopamine in learning. These findings could have implications for drug development.' In the second experiment, the subjects were shown modified images of familiar pictures, to see if the changes produced any reaction in the midbrain - they did not - again, only new images produced the desired activity. Finally, the subjects were tested on their memory after 20 minutes and then a day later. The subjects gave the best results when they were shown novel images amongst the more familiar information during learning. After 20 minutes, the subjects' scores increased by 19 per cent when shown the new information during learning. 'When we see something new, we see it has a potential for rewarding us in some way,' explained Dr Düzel. 'This potential that lies in new things motivates us to explore our environment for rewards. The brain learns that the stimulus, once familiar, has no reward associated with it and so it loses its potential. For this reason, only completely new objects activate the midbrain area and increase our levels of dopamine.'
Countries
Germany, United Kingdom