We all know that sleep is the time when the brain categorizes and organizes all the information received after a long day of activity. However, scientists have now discovered another fascinating aspect of sleep – the ability to learn while sleeping.
Don’t believe it? Let’s take a look at a simple experiment.
A group of researchers from Northwestern University asked participants to learn how to play two different musical pieces. Afterward, they were placed in a room for a short nap of about 90 minutes. During this deep sleep phase, one of the two pieces of music played continuously.
When the participants woke up and took a second test, they demonstrated better recall and played the piece they had heard while sleeping more skillfully.
The results of the experiment were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
If you’re still skeptical, you might think this is no different from the idea of people learning foreign languages in their sleep. However, psychologist Paul J. Reber at the Smithsonian Research Institute sees it differently:
“The key difference is that our research indicates that memory can be reinforced by things we have already learned. We are not talking about learning new things while sleeping, but about how to enhance existing memories by reactivating the information that the brain has already absorbed.”
Even now, scientists still do not fully understand what happens in the brain during sleep. Nonetheless, these new discoveries could be the key to unlocking remaining mysteries.
While sleeping, the brain only absorbs information through auditory means, at least according to what we gained from the experiment. Therefore, instead of staying up late at your study desk, you can still review by going to bed early with headphones and listening to recordings of your lessons from the day.
One small note is that we are learning how to enhance memory and reinforce what we already know, not acquiring new knowledge. Additionally, if you intend to improve your visual skills, it’s best to study while awake; trying to learn while sleeping will likely result in forgetting everything as soon as you wake up.
On average, an American sleeps 7.6 hours each night – totaling approximately 200,000 hours over a lifetime. Therefore, we should not waste this precious time to improve our cognitive abilities. So what are you waiting for? Put on your headphones and start today!
Source: Gizmodo
