If you want to remember the information in this article, take a nap.

    New research conducted by brain researcher Avi Karni of the University of Haifa in Israel explores the possibility that naps help lock in sometimes fleeting long-term memories. A 90-minute daytime snooze might help the most, the study finds.

    "We still don't know the exact mechanism of the memory process that occurs during sleep, but the results of this research suggest it is possible to speed up memory consolidation," Karni said.

    Long-term memory refers to memories that stay with us for years, such as "what" memories — a car accident that happened yesterday — or "how to" memories, such as one's learned ability to play the drums.

    Karni, who co-authored the study in a recent issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, instructed participants to learn a complex thumb-tapping sequence, then split the study subjects into two groups: one that napped for an hour, and one that didn't. The people who took an afternoon snooze showed sizeable improvement in their performance by that evening.

    "After a night's sleep the two groups were at the same level, but the group that slept in the afternoon improved much faster than the group that stayed awake," Karni said.

    And the study also showed just how much faster a 90-minute nap could help lock in long-term memories.

    "Daytime sleep can shorten the time 'how to' memory becomes immune to interference and forgetting," Karni said. "Instead of 6 to 8 hours, the brain consolidated the memory during the 90-minute nap."

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    以色列海法大學腦部研究專家阿維•卡尼針開展的一項最新研究探討了白天小睡有助于鞏固長期記憶的可能性問題。研究發現，白天小睡90分鐘對鞏固記憶最有效。

    卡尼說：“目前，我們還不清楚睡眠過程中記憶加工的具體機制，但研究結果表明白天小睡能夠加速記憶的鞏固。”

    長期記憶指的是能夠保存多年的記憶，比如“陳述性記憶”，記住昨天發生的一場車禍就屬于“陳述性記憶”，以及“程序性記憶”，比如學會如何打鼓。

    由卡尼等幾名研究人員共同撰寫的研究報告在最新一期《自然神經學》期刊上發表。在該研究中，卡尼首先教研究對象學一套復雜的拇指操，然后將他們分為兩組：一組小睡一小時，另一組不睡。結果發現，午睡小組在當晚的表現有明顯的進步。

    卡尼說：“而在經過一夜的睡眠之后，兩組研究對象的水平相當，但午睡小組要比未午睡小組的進步快得多。”

    此外，研究還發現了90分鐘的午睡能使記憶鞏固的過程提速多長時間。

    卡尼說：“午睡能夠使‘程序性記憶’在較短時間內克服干擾及遺忘。不用睡六至八個小時，只需90分鐘，大腦就可鞏固記憶。”