The research, which comes from Japan, is based on a animal model. Here scientists pinpointed a gene in mice which appears to influence memory recall at varying times of day. Further examination showed how this gene influences mice to be more forgetful at a time just prior to when they normally wake up.
There are various reasons for forgetting soothing. Perhaps we didn’t learn a fact properly, or we might have been distracted. There is also a difference between not knowing something and simply not recalling it. Another reason, based on the University of Tokyo research, could be the time of day.
In exploring the issue, the scientists examined the memories of young adult male and female mice. To begin with, they allowed the mice to ‘learn’ by letting the rodents explore a new object for a few minutes. The scientists then analyzed the mice’s memory recall by reintroducing the same object at differing times of the day.
The study was then repeated using mice with and without BMAL1, which is a protein that regulates the expression of many other genes. This showed how mice trained at a time prior to when they normally wake up did recognize the object, compared with mice examined at their normal waking time.
The results also indicated that mice allowed to wake up at their normal time but without BMAL1 had the same pattern of results compared to mice with the protein; however, mice without BMAL1 were found to be far more forgetful just prior to when they normally awake.
The scientists think that BMAL1 influences the circadian clock and, in turn, this affects memory recall. The circadian clock organizes the internal and external activities of an animal’s body around the 24-hour day. The genetic connection adds further to the complications around the biology of memory recall and forgetting.
The research has been reported to Nature Communications. The research paper is headed “Hippocampal clock regulates memory retrieval via Dopamine and PKA-induced GluA1 phosphorylation.”
