
To test their hypotheses, Cairney and his colleagues asked 46 participants “to learn associations between words and pictures of objects or scenes before a nap.”Īfterward, some of the participants took a 90-minute nap, whereas others stayed awake. “If they support memory reactivation, we further reasoned that it could be possible to decipher memory signals at the time that these spindles took place.” “Sleep spindles,” he continues, “have been linked to the benefits of sleep for memory in previous research, so we wanted to investigate whether these brain waves mediate reactivation.” Sleep spindles key for memory consolidationĬairney explains the motivation for the research, saying, “We are quite certain that memories are reactivated in the brain during sleep, but we don’t know the neural processes that underpin this phenomenon.” Their findings were published in the journal Current Biology. Scott Cairney, from the University of York in the United Kingdom, co-led the research with Bernhard Staresina, who works at the University of Birmingham, also in the U.K. Therefore, a team of researchers set out to investigate. Researchers were also unaware if such mechanisms would help with memorizing new information. However, the mechanism behind such achievements remained mysterious until now.

Scientists were also able to specifically target certain memories and reactivate, or strengthen, them by using auditory cues. It has also been shown that sleep spindles, or sudden spikes in oscillatory brain activity that can be seen on an electroencephalogram (EEG) during the second stage of non-REM sleep, are key for this memory consolidation. New research seems to suggest so, and scientists in general are moving closer to understanding precisely what goes on in the brain when we sleep and how the restful state affects learning and memory formation.įor instance, previous studies have shown that non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep - or dreamless sleep - is crucial for consolidating memories. But could such a scenario ever become a reality? The idea that we can learn in our sleep has captivated the minds of artists and scientists alike the possibility that one day we could all drastically improve our productivity by learning in our sleep is very appealing.
#HOW DO YOU SAY ARE YOU SLEEPING IN FRENCH SERIES#
This is, of course, a problem that puts him through a series of hilarious situations.

Of course, since the show is a comedy, Dexter’s record gets stuck on the phrase “ Omelette du fromage” and the next day he’s incapable of saying anything else. He creates a device that helps him to learn in his sleep by playing French phrases to him.

Those among us who grew up with the popular cartoon “ Dexter’s Laboratory” might remember the famous episode wherein Dexter’s trying to learn French overnight. Share on Pinterest We may one day be able to induce brain waves that will enable us to learn in our sleep.
