Roche Richard Ap, Mullally Sinéad L, McNulty Jonathan P, Hayden Judy, Brennan Paul, Doherty Colin P, Fitzsimons Mary, McMackin Deirdre, Prendergast Julie, Sukumaran Sunita, Mangaoang Maeve A, Robertson Ian H, O'Mara Shane M
School of Psychology & Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.
BMC Neurosci. 2009 Nov 20;10:136. doi: 10.1186/1471-2202-10-136.
Repeated rehearsal is one method by which verbal material may be transferred from short- to long-term memory. We hypothesised that extended engagement of memory structures through prolonged rehearsal would result in enhanced efficacy of recall and also of brain structures implicated in new learning. Twenty-four normal participants aged 55-70 (mean = 60.1) engaged in six weeks of rote learning, during which they learned 500 words per week every week (prose, poetry etc.). An extensive battery of memory tests was administered on three occasions, each six weeks apart. In addition, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was used to measure metabolite levels in seven voxels of interest (VOIs) (including hippocampus) before and after learning.
Results indicate a facilitation of new learning that was evident six weeks after rote learning ceased. This facilitation occurred for verbal/episodic material only, and was mirrored by a metabolic change in left posterior hippocampus, specifically an increase in NAA/(Cr+Cho) ratio.
Results suggest that repeated activation of memory structures facilitates anamnesis and may promote neuronal plasticity in the ageing brain, and that compliance is a key factor in such facilitation as the effect was confined to those who engaged fully with the training.
重复复述是一种可将言语材料从短期记忆转化为长期记忆的方法。我们假设，通过长时间复述对记忆结构进行长时间激活，将提高回忆效率，并增强参与新学习的脑结构的效率。24名年龄在55 - 70岁（平均60.1岁）的正常参与者进行了为期六周的死记硬背学习，在此期间他们每周学习500个单词（散文、诗歌等）。在三个不同时间点进行了一系列广泛的记忆测试，每次测试间隔六周。此外，在学习前后，使用质子磁共振波谱（1H - MRS）测量七个感兴趣体素（VOI）（包括海马体）中的代谢物水平。
结果表明，在死记硬背学习停止六周后，新学习能力得到了促进。这种促进仅发生在言语/情景记忆材料方面，并且在左侧海马体后部的代谢变化中得到体现，具体表现为NAA/（Cr + Cho）比值增加。
结果表明，记忆结构的反复激活有助于回忆，并可能促进衰老大脑中的神经元可塑性，而且依从性是这种促进作用的关键因素，因为这种效果仅限于那些完全参与训练的人。
