Credit: Dell Center for Therapy

Back when you were trying to master scales on the violin or memorize your times tables, someone probably told you, “Practice makes perfect.” (And when you were adult, Malcolm Gladwell essentially told you the same thing).

The idea behind this classic advice is simple: the way to shove new information into your brain is to trudge along, doing the activity or re-exposing yourself to the target information again and again. It might not be fun to hear when you’ve been up late studying, but we’ve all internalized this harsh truth. The more you try, the more you learn.

There’s only one problem with this age-old wisdom. Science suggests it’s at least partially wrong. While no study is going to find you can master Beethoven or calculus by kicking back with your feet up all the time (sorry), new research is finding that rest plays a larger role in memory than your nagging mother or […]