MH3 -- The Effects of Sleep on Memory
Start Date
8-4-2022 10:30 AM
End Date
8-4-2022 12:15 PM
Location
URC Greatroom
Document Type
Event
Abstract
This experiment tested how different amounts of sleep can affect memory of individuals. Memory is the process of which the mind stores and remembers information that the body has seen or has encountered and also contributes to how the brain can store and reuse information people encounter due to other senses throughout the body that are used in their everyday lives: such as sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. In this experiment, 4 female and 4 male participants were tested on the 50 states of the Unites States. In the start of this experiment each participant slept their regular amount of sleep that they get every day. The number of hours of sleep time were then decreased to 7, 5, and 2 hours of sleep. In order for the participants to not memorize the 50 states, we hand-picked individuals that never learned the 50 states. We also limited how many states they learnt in one-week increments. We found that in the beginning when the participants slept their regular amount of sleep, they tended to score very high on the test of the 50 States. As the time was lowered to 7 hours, both male and female scores lowered, but females seemed to score higher. Then we lowered the time to 5 hours and then 2 hours; when we did this, both male and female scores dropped significantly. After data and observations were collected from each participant on their memory, it was concluded that sleep can affect an individual’s memory. Our data suggests that memory improves with sleep quality and duration. The more sleep a person gets helps them to be able to process and retain more information.
Keywords
Mental Health Science
MH3 -- The Effects of Sleep on Memory
URC Greatroom
This experiment tested how different amounts of sleep can affect memory of individuals. Memory is the process of which the mind stores and remembers information that the body has seen or has encountered and also contributes to how the brain can store and reuse information people encounter due to other senses throughout the body that are used in their everyday lives: such as sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. In this experiment, 4 female and 4 male participants were tested on the 50 states of the Unites States. In the start of this experiment each participant slept their regular amount of sleep that they get every day. The number of hours of sleep time were then decreased to 7, 5, and 2 hours of sleep. In order for the participants to not memorize the 50 states, we hand-picked individuals that never learned the 50 states. We also limited how many states they learnt in one-week increments. We found that in the beginning when the participants slept their regular amount of sleep, they tended to score very high on the test of the 50 States. As the time was lowered to 7 hours, both male and female scores lowered, but females seemed to score higher. Then we lowered the time to 5 hours and then 2 hours; when we did this, both male and female scores dropped significantly. After data and observations were collected from each participant on their memory, it was concluded that sleep can affect an individual’s memory. Our data suggests that memory improves with sleep quality and duration. The more sleep a person gets helps them to be able to process and retain more information.