People who don’t get enough sleep may experience the effects of sleep deprivation. Difficulty remembering is one common symptom. Since the brain does not have sufficient time to create new pathways for the information you’ve recently learned, sleep deprivation often affects how memories are consolidated. Other potential cognitive impacts include trouble learning and focusing, reduced decision-making skills, and poor emotional and behavioral control.

Absorbing Information

Whether it is learning about a new technology, writing a new invention or waking up for the work day, our physical wellbeing is a top priority in maintaining focus and achieving our daily objectives.  

Achieving our goals, or as some organisations refer to as “key performance indicators”, “personal development” and other target orientated schemes usually include physical and mental examinations.  

Our memory plays a key role in revising, storing and being able to recall information to meet those targets. Those that excel are usually the ones that are able to recall larger and more accurate amounts of information from memory.

Storing memory doesn’t come naturally, it is a developing process that becomes refined over time, hence, the reason for training and examinations is to prepare us for real life scenarios that may occur during times of ease and when we do not expect.

Training and repetition develops our sub-conscious memory to be able to recall information at will and as a natural reflex without thinking.

However how do we develop such techniques and what is the best way to absorb new information?

Firstly whilst learning, our mind enters “learned” mode, sometimes referred to as “alpha” mode, essentially a raised state of mind creating a higher state of concentration that results in fast learning and powerful performance.

In addition to absorbing information visually and audibly, your body also needs to behave in a certain way as to not reject or forget information the following day. Sleep plays a vital role in processing and committing information to memory, which can be difficult to balance in an age of industry, productivity and efficiency metrics working around the clock .

The 4 Stages of Sleep

There are four main stages of sleep, through which we cycle continually when sleeping. It takes approximately 90 minutes for us to cycle through all four before they repeat. As we sleep longer, we spend more of our sleep time in stages 3 & 4.

People who don’t get enough sleep may experience the effects of sleep deprivation. Difficulty remembering is one common symptom. Since the brain does not have sufficient time to create new pathways for the information you’ve recently learned, sleep deprivation often affects how memories are consolidated. Other potential cognitive impacts include trouble learning and focusing, reduced decision-making skills, and poor emotional and behavioral control.

How much sleep you should get each night largely depends on your age. In addition to adults, studies have concluded children experience stronger memory consolidation after a good night’s sleep. That said, excessive sleep can also lead to cognitive impairments. Every person should strive for the optimal amount of nightly sleep, as too little or too much can have negative repercussions.

Behaviour in Human-Machine Systems

Information processing focuses on how information is retrieved from our senses and encoded (or stored) in our brain after processing. The theory of information processing suggests that committing information to our long term memory happens in stages as shown above.

Jens Rasmussen was a Danish psychologist who developed the SRK model after studying human errors and decision-making in human machine environments, such as aviation.

The model breaks our behaviour or interaction in this environment into three main categories as shown below. It is a continuum, meaning that our behaviour changes between categories dynamically, however there are some general assumptions to be made about different levels of development throughout a pilot’s development.

The level at which we operate also largely determines which errors are likely to occur (details are covered in a separate topic).

How Does Sleep Deprivation Affect Brain Function and Memory?

People who don’t get enough sleep may experience the effects of sleep deprivation. Difficulty remembering is one common symptom. Since the brain does not have sufficient time to create new pathways for the information you’ve recently learned, sleep deprivation often affects how memories are consolidated. Other potential cognitive impacts include trouble learning and focusing, reduced decision-making skills, and poor emotional and behavioral control.

How much sleep you should get each night largely depends on your age. In addition to adults, studies have concluded children experience stronger memory consolidation after a good night’s sleep. That said, excessive sleep can also lead to cognitive impairments. Every person should strive for the optimal amount of nightly sleep, as too little or too much can have negative repercussions.