Daydreaming may be strengthening our memories, study suggests

Daydreamers are always scoffed at. Whether by teachers or bosses or someone else may depend on which phase of life you are in. But generally, such persons are asked to focus on what is declared 'main work'. Now it turns out daydreaming may have a positive effect as it may strengthen memory. This study has been carried out by Scientists at Harvard University.

The study

So they did this. They carried out an experiment involving mice and observed their brain activity. The scientists chose 13 mice and showed them two black-and-white images 64 times during the day for two seconds at a time. Other than this, the mice received no stimulation.

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Scientists continued showing the mice these images and studied parts of their brains called the visual cortex and hippocampus. The visual cortex analyseswhat is being seen while the hippocampus is associated with consolidation or memories.

The scientists observed that when the mice looked at the black-and-white images, the neurons in the visual cortex fired up in a specific pattern.

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The mice were then shown blank screens in experimental conditions that ensured that the mice were in a 'daydreaming' state. It was found that even while looking at the blank screens, the visual cortex of the mice lit up as if they were looking at the previous black-and-white images. This activity was accompanied by activity in the hippocampus, the part responsible for the consolidation of memories. This suggested that the brains were making the neural connections and in turn, memories stronger.

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"We wanted to know how this daydreaming process occurred on a neurobiological level, and whether these moments of quiet reflection could be important for learning and memory," says Nghia Nguyen, a neurobiologist from Harvard University as quoted by EurekaAlert.

Nguyen is the lead author of the study.

"When you see two different images many times, it becomes important to discriminate between them," explains Nguyen.

"Our findings suggest that daydreaming may guide this process by steering the neural patterns associated with the two images away from each other."

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More detailed study may be required to state with 100 per cent certainty that these results apply to humans as well. But it's interesting to know nonetheless that while daydreaming, you are actually making your brain stronger!

Harvard University scientists' study was published in the journal Nature on December 13, 2023.

(With inputs from agencies)