Learning in a dream is possible, proven
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Probably, each of us thought about what would be nice to learn new knowledge, while peacefully snuffling.
The researchers argue that this is not a fantasy, but a real reality.
Scientists from the Weizmann Institute, which is in Rehovot, found out that people have the ability to learn during sleep. The results of their research were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
It turns out that even in a state of rest a person reacts to auditory and olfactory stimuli and remembers them.
In the course of research, scientists have analyzed the possibility of people associating certain sounds and smells after they are simultaneously perceived during sleep.
Previously, studies were conducted that proved the need for rest for human concentration on the learning process, as well as consolidation of memory. However, it was not possible to prove the ability to perceive information in a dream. And the famous experiments of students fall asleep under the recording of lectures, did not lead to the desired results.
A team of scientists, consisting of specialists from the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Academic College and the Weizmann Institute of Neurobiology, in collaboration with researchers from the Levinshtein Rehabilitation Center, led by Professor Noam Sobel, conducted work with 55 volunteers. The purpose of the experiment was to find out whether it is possible to develop a conditioned reflex to sound and smell in a sleeping person.
For tests, people were selected with a particularly strong and deep sleep in order that nothing could interfere with the purity of the experiment.
During the sleep of the experimental, sound signals were delivered to the room, which were supported by smells (pleasant and unpleasant). The reactions of sleeping people were recorded with the help of an electroencephalogram, also the experts followed the rhythm of breathing of the subjects.
Experts noted that when breathing smells pleasant, they breathed deeper, if the smell was unpleasant, then the breathing became shallow and superficial. The same breathing reaction was observed if the dormant heard sounds previously accompanied by certain smells.
The next stage of the experiment was to have already awake people listen to the same sound signals that were fed during sleep. It turned out that after awakening their body reacted reflexively to stimuli, exactly as in a state of rest. And this despite the fact that they did not remember the sounds.
The scientists also managed to establish that the organism reacts most strongly to an external stimulus during a fast sleep, while the process of consolidating memory and transferring associations from sleep to wakefulness occurs during a slow sleep.
The study of Professor Sobel focuses only on studying the processes of smelling a person at rest, but this gives scientists the hope that the first significant step in the discovery of new human capabilities during sleep is already done.
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