A study on hypnopedia, also known as “sleep-learning”, was published back in 1965. This study utilized electroencephalograms (EEGs) to show that hypnopedia was a real thing that could occur. Later studies found out that the hippocampus was activated during non-dreaming parts of the sleep cycle. This is possible through “neural oscillatory activity,” which is the “up-and-down of wakefulness that occurs during Stage 2 non-REM sleep.” During Stage 2 non-REM sleep, one’s heart rate slows down and their body temperature decreases. Sleep spindles, known as the “up-down” moments, play a key role in sensory processing and long-term consolidation of memory, lasting only half a second to two seconds maximum. These spindles help the brain communicate across different areas of the brain, helping it to transfer data to the proper location.
The article then explains a study performed at the University of Zurich, where 68 German students who participated were asked to learn some words in Dutch before 11p.m. each night. Half of the students had the words played to them while they were asleep while the other half stayed awake while listening to the words. After three hours of sleep, all students were tested at 2 a.m. on their memory of the new words they had learned. Results showed that the students who listened to the words while asleep were able to recall more of the vocabulary and had a better memory of them than those who did not sleep. EEGs were used to prove that sleep deprivation was not the reason as to why those who stayed awake had poorer memory. The results of the EEG tests showed significant findings, indicating that the “up” phase of spindles played a key role in sleep learning. Two other studies used cues, such as smells or sounds, paired with new information on participants. Participants were able to retrieve the information learned while asleep, having no recollection of how or when they learned this information.
I found that this article closely resembled the topic presented in our last seminar lecture by Dr. Eitan Schechtman-Drayman. His work was based on the use of cues to help in memory consolidation during slow-wave sleep. To study this, he used TMR, targeted memory reactivation, which helps in the formation of memories through cues during sleep. Tests which were performed include spatial-memory tasks. His findings showed that TMR greatly helped in memory consolidation and modification of knowledge through processes of integration, reorganization, and generalization. Lastly, Dr. Eitan Schechtman-Drayman found that sleep spindles do play a key role in his findings.
Both the article and Dr. Eitan Schechtman-Drayman showed the importance of memory consolidation during sleep. The findings presented give the reader a clear view of what is being presented but also how it all works. Personally, I believe that sleep is important, and even more crucial than we thought it was, especially in the consolidation of memory. All in all, sleep-learning is a new interest in the field of memory consolidation and is becoming more popular among researchers and the everyday person.
Article link:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-a-person-learn-while-sleeping-11552744800?mod=search results page=1&pos=7
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