Memory And Attention Work Best At Certain Times Of The Year, Study Finds

New research suggests people’s cognitive abilities are affected by the seasons.

New research suggests people’s cognitive abilities are affected by the seasons.

Brain scans show that people’s short-term memory is generally best in fall (autumn) and worst in spring.

In mid-December, though, people’s attention skills are at their lowest ebb.

Attention doesn’t come up to full strength until June.

Dr Gilles Vandewalle, one of the study’s authors, said that the causes are likely down to multiple factors, but:

“…we may be tuned to lower brain activity in winter, and that could cause changes in brain activity.

But in modern society we are similarly active throughout the year.”

It could also be that people who experience seasonally affected disorder may be particularly vulnerable to changes in cognition over the year.

Brain Scans Reveal Why Up To One in Six People Get SAD in Winter

The new research had 28 men and women visit the lab at different times of the year to take various tests.

Both brain scans and behavioural tests were used.

Only the brain scans showed the differences, not the behavioural tests.

The study was published in the journal PNAS (Meyer et al., 2016).

Image credit: Noukka Signe


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Hello, and welcome to PsyBlog. Thanks for dropping by.

This site is all about scientific research into how the mind works.

It’s mostly written by psychologist and author, Dr Jeremy Dean.

I try to dig up fascinating studies that tell us something about what it means to be human.

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Author: Jeremy Dean

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology. He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. He is also the author of the book "Making Habits, Breaking Habits" (Da Capo, 2013) and several ebooks.