Belgian scientists have found that the activity of different parts of the brain in humans depends on the season. In winter, in particular, attention is weakened, and short-term memory abilities reach their peak in autumn.
The new study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Briefly about it reports the portal Live Science. A study by researchers at the University of Liège in Belgium found that human brain function changes with the seasons. The authors studied the cognitive functions of the brains of 28 Belgians at different times of the year.
In each season, the participants in the experiment spent 4.5 days in the laboratory, without access to the outside world. They were also deprived of any seasonal signals, in particular daylight. The researchers scanned the brains of the recipients while they performed tasks that tested their ability to maintain attention, store, update and compare information in their memory.
As a result, scientists came to the conclusion that brain performance does not change in different seasons. However, at different times of the year, one or another part of the brain is activated. For example, the part responsible for maintaining attention was most active in June, closer to the summer solstice, and the least active in December, during the winter solstice. Short-term - "working" - memory reached its peak in the fall and especially weakened during the spring equinox.
Alexander Kornev
