Can't remember something? Try waiting until later in the day. Researchers identified a gene in mice that seems to influence memory recall at different times of day and tracked how it causes mice to be more forgetful just before they normally wake up, SIA reports referring to Sciensedaily.
Every time you forget something, it could be because you didn't truly learn it -- like the name of the person you were just introduced to a minute ago; or it could be because you are not able to recall the information from where it is stored in your brain -- like the lyrics of your favorite song slipping your mind.
Many memory researchers study how new memories are made. The biology of forgetting is more complicated to study because of the difficulties of distinguishing between not knowing and not recalling.
Researchers tested the memories of young adult male and female mice. In the "learning," or training, phase of the memory tests, researchers allowed mice to explore a new object for a few minutes.
Later, in the "recall" phase of the test, researchers observed how long the mice touched the object when it was reintroduced. Mice spend less time touching objects that they remember seeing previously. Researchers tested the mice's recall by reintroducing the same object at different times of day.
Something about the time of day just before they normally wake up, when BMAL1 levels are normally low, causes mice to not recall something they definitely learned and know.
According to Kida, the memory research community has previously suspected that the body's internal, or circadian, clock that is responsible for regulating sleep-wake cycles also affects learning and memory formation.
"Now we have evidence that the circadian clocks are regulating memory recall," said Kida.
Researchers have traced the role of BMAL1 in memory retrieval to a specific area of the brain called the hippocampus. Additionally, researchers connected normal BMAL1 to activation of dopamine receptors and modification of other small signaling molecules in the brain.
"If we can identify ways to boost memory retrieval through this BMAL1 pathway, then we can think about applications to human diseases of memory deficit, like dementia and Alzheimer's disease," said Kida.
However, the purpose of having memory recall abilities that naturally fluctuate depending on the time of day remains a mystery.
"We really want to know what is the evolutionary benefit of having naturally impaired memory recall at certain times of day," said Kida.
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