Want to learn a new skill? Take short breaks: Study

Marlene Bonstrup, a postdoctoral fellow in Cohen's lab, looked at brain waves recorded from healthy volunteers in learning and memory experiments.

resting, brain function — Resting, early and often, may be critical to learning as practice. (Photo: Getty Images/Thinkstock)

Taking short breaks, early and often, may help our brains learn new skills, according to a study. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health in the US found that our brains may solidify the memories of new skills we practiced a few seconds earlier by taking a short rest. The results, published in the journal Current Biology, highlight the critically important role rest may play in learning.