這聽起來像是每個學生的夢想——8月26日在《自然—神經(jīng)科學》上發(fā)表的一項研究顯示,，我們即便在夢中也能夠?qū)W習到全新的信息,。
以色列雷霍沃特市威茨曼科學院的Anat Arzi和她的同事利用一種被稱為經(jīng)典型條件反射的簡單認知形式，從而讓55名健康的受試者在睡眠中學習氣味與聲音的關(guān)系,。
在這項研究中,，睡眠中的受試者被重復暴露在一些令人愉快的氣味中，例如除臭劑或香波,，以及一些令人討厭的氣味中,，例如腐爛的魚和肉。同時伴隨著每一種氣味,，研究人員都會播放不同的聲音,。
研究人員指出，通常人們在聞到香味時會深呼吸,，而聞到臭味時會盡量少吸氣,。觀察發(fā)現(xiàn)，經(jīng)過這樣的條件反射訓練,，睡眠中的受試者也會在聽到與香味相關(guān)的聲音時深吸氣,，即使這時并沒有釋放香味。
令人意想不到的是,，在第二天受試者清醒的狀態(tài)下,，給他們播放相關(guān)聲音，也會出現(xiàn)同樣的反應,，而他們還不知道自己在睡覺時經(jīng)受了這樣的條件反射訓練,。
Arzi指出，睡眠時究竟能學習多復雜的東西,，還需要進一步探索,。她估計,，這種學習能力應該超出本次試驗所顯示的內(nèi)容。
研究人員認為,，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)還將帶來一種“睡眠療法”,，從而有助于改變一些不正常的行為，例如恐懼癥,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1038/nn.3193
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PMID:
Humans can learn new information during sleep
Anat Arzi, Limor Shedlesky, Mor Ben-Shaul, Khitam Nasser, Arie Oksenberg, Ilana S Hairston & Noam Sobel
During sleep, humans can strengthen previously acquired memories, but whether they can acquire entirely new information remains unknown. The nonverbal nature of the olfactory sniff response, in which pleasant odors drive stronger sniffs and unpleasant odors drive weaker sniffs, allowed us to test learning in humans during sleep. Using partial-reinforcement trace conditioning, we paired pleasant and unpleasant odors with different tones during sleep and then measured the sniff response to tones alone during the same nights' sleep and during ensuing wake. We found that sleeping subjects learned novel associations between tones and odors such that they then sniffed in response to tones alone. Moreover, these newly learned tone-induced sniffs differed according to the odor pleasantness that was previously associated with the tone during sleep. This acquired behavior persisted throughout the night and into ensuing wake, without later awareness of the learning process. Thus, humans learned new information during sleep.
