Swiss researchers have determined that we may be able to\nlearn foreign words during slow-wave sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a new study, scientists at the University of Bern in\nSwitzerland used EEGs to record the brain activity of 41 volunteers while they\ntook a nap and also while they took memory tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The researchers played pairs of words into headphones that\nthe volunteers wore while they named. The words included a native-language word\npaired with a corresponding made-up foreign word (a \u201cpseudoword\u201d). For example,\nthe native-language word for \u201chouse\u201d was paired with the made-up word \u201ctofer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they woke up, the volunteers were tested on the associations\nthey had learned during sleep. The testing included asking whether the object\nmentioned could fit inside a shoebox (e.g. Can a \u201ctofer\u201d fit in a shoebox?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The test results showed that as long as the pseudoword had\nbeen presented during a slow-wave peak, the likelihood that the volunteer\nanswered correctly were better than chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By observing the brain\u2019s reactions, the researchers could\nsee that the word retrieval was linked to activity in the hippocampus (which\nplays a role in learning and memory) and language regions. These areas are\nactive when we learn while awake too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese brain structures appear to mediate memory formation\nindependently of the prevailing state of consciousness,\u201d explains Marc Z\u00fcst,\nthe study\u2019s co-author. \u201c[They are] unconscious during deep sleep, conscious\nduring wakefulness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study\u2019s results were published in the journal Current Biology.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the past, other studies that have looked at sleep\nlearning have presented conflicting results, with some researchers arguing that\nit\u2019s impossible to learn during sleep. These experts have argued that sleep\nlacks the conscious awareness needed to learn and that sleep doesn\u2019t allow for\nthe necessary brain chemistry and activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This new study seems to have flipped that argument on its\nhead and may lead to new way to teach foreign words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Swiss researchers have determined that we may be able to learn foreign words during slow-wave sleep. Using sleep to learn foreign words In a new study, scientists at the University of Bern in Switzerland used EEGs to record the brain activity of 41 volunteers while they took a nap and also while they took memory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[692],"tags":[964,965,693,966],"class_list":["post-13334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sleep","tag-foreign-language","tag-language","tag-sleep","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13334\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthymale.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Previous study\nresults<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n