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Glucose Helps People Learn And Retain Information

Many people have experienced the fear of walking into an exam room and suddenly feeling that they can’t remember a thing. One possible solution could be taking glucose: according to new research, this improves memory performance and enables people to retain more information.

These are the findings presented today by Dr. Sandra Sünram-Lea from Lancaster University in the UK and Dr. Jonathan Foster from the University of Western Australia, in a poster presentation at The British Psychological Society Annual Conference in Blackpool.

The researchers gave drinks containing either glucose or a placebo to sixty healthy young volunteers. The volunteers were then shown a list of twenty words which they were asked to recall half an hour later, and again the next day.

Those who received the glucose could remember more words (fifteen words as opposed to ten in the placebo groups). Significantly, it didn't matter whether the volunteers received the glucose just before or just after they viewed the list; the improvements were almost the same.

As Dr. Sünram-Lea explained, "When we have a list of things to remember, our brain stores these memories during and also after we are exposed to the information. The provision of a glucose drink before or shortly after a learning task seems to improve the way that the memories are subsequently formed."

Dr. Sünram-Lea also suggests that, "Students in particular may benefit from taking glucose before or shortly after their lectures and during their revision."

14-Mar-2002

 

 

 

 

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