Benefits of morning reading vs afternoon

Dr. J Oakhill, a psychologist at the University of Sussex has conducted a number of experiments to determine whether time of day affects your memory.

What she’s discovered might come as a surprise to you:

Because it turns out we process two types of memory – Declarative and Semantic – differently throughout the day.

In the morning we tend to be better at Declarative Memory tasks – which is our ability to recall exact details, like names, places, dates and facts.

However in the afternoon, our brain is better at Semantic Memory tasks – our ability to integrate new information with what we already know and make it meaningful.

So what that means is this:

When you’re planning out your day, you want to study NEW material earlier in the day. And use the afternoon to integrate new knowledge into what you already know.

In other words, the morning is best for researching information. And the afternoon is better for synthesizing and applying it.

by: Ryan Levesque