PSY 202

Sleep Learning

Scientists know that sleep helps to strengthen previously acquired memories. They are
now discovering that cognitive functions are active in the brain even when sleeping and
that you can actually learn while you sleep as well.
A Michigan State sleep memory study of more than 250 people suggests people derive
vastly different effects from this "sleep memory" ability with some memories improving
dramatically and others not at all. It also manifests differently in different people. Two
people could get the same amount of sleep and one could have vast memory
improvement and the other none at all, but they also say that most people do show
improvement, lending credibility to the statement, Let me sleep on it.
A University of Chicago study says "Sleep has at least two separate effects on learning. It
protects memories against subsequent interference or decay and it also appears to
'recover' or restore memories. This study used a robotic monotone voice to speak a
series of common words. Before training they were able to retain about 21% of the
words. The control group was tested one hour after they were sleep-trained, and they
recognized 54% of the words, a 33% increase. When retested that night, they had lost a
majority of the info and were only retaining about 31%. But to the scientists amazement
when they were again tested the next morning they had regained what they lost during the
previous day suggesting that conversations and thinking about unrelated issues pushed
the info out of retention level but the info was then regained during the next sleep period
due to the lack of outside interference.
Sense of smell also plays into this. Very pleasant odors elicit a strong sniff response
while unpleasant odors elicit a very weak sniff response and these odors can then be
associated with an audible tone to a subject who then can relate that same tone to a smell
while awake w/o the tone.
But it goes well beyond that even, In Budapest, Hungary, a student wanted to learn
English quickly to win a BBC contest. Using sleep-learning, he memorized one thousand
and twenty-six English words in six weeks and won first prize!
*** Now Id like to show you a short video on how all this actually works in your brain
***
This shows that a polyphasic, or sporadic sleep schedule (which Spain and many South
American countries practice with a biphasic sleep schedule by sleeping twice a day) or
napping during the day may be much better for our mental well-being than the
monophasic or solid block of sleeping that the majority of Americans practice.
Additionally, sleep deprivation, which seems to be more and more common as people
find it harder and harder to make a living may, meet their social needs, as well as care for
their personal responsibilities may be having drastic detrimental effects on our minds.
All of this research is providing several promising revelations about our societal wake-
sleep structure and a few scary ones. There seems to be a boom right now of scientific
interest in the phenomena of sleep learning and I am very intrigued to see what new
findings all of the current studies will bring about.
Now however, I think it must be about time for a nap!