Amazing stuff!
"... One memory-related theoretical framework, rooted in behavioral science, is the Separate Phases for Encoding and Retrieval (SPEAR) model. This model outlines the idea that the human brain rapidly switches between the encoding of information and the retrieval of stored information. ...
Researchers ... recently carried out a study aimed at testing this theory and the possibility that memory processes change moment-by-moment following this rhythmic pattern. Their findings ... are aligned with the SPEAR model's predictions and suggest that the brain is only disposed to learn new information during brief time windows. ..."
From the abstract:
"Why do some experiences endure in memory better than others? Here we explore the possibility that learning fluctuates rhythmically several times per second, with fortuitously timed experiences being more memorable. Although such fleeting opportunities for encoding would evade our awareness, they are predicted by a prominent model describing how theta rhythms in the brain coordinate memory—the Separate Phases for Encoding and Retrieval (SPEAR) model.
In a preregistered study, we adapted a dense sampling approach to reconstruct the millisecond time course of memory encoding in n = 125 participants. We found that memory encoding fluctuated at a theta rhythm (3–10 Hz), that these rhythms were not a by-product of rhythmic attention and that—like theta rhythms in the brain—memory rhythms were modulated by putative markers of acetylcholine.
Our findings provide behavioural evidence consistent with the SPEAR model of episodic memory."
Why some moments endure: Episodic memory encoding fluctuates with brain's theta rhythms
Object classification, memory test and overall performance.
