【Using English】20 - Sleep Away Your Bad Attitudes

来源: http://thankyoubrain.blogspot.jp/2015/06/sleep-away-your-bad-attitudes.html

Generally speaking, you cannot learn from sounds of new information while you sleep, though this was a fad several decades ago. But in an earlier post, I discussed a new line of research where sleep learning can occur. The key is to play sound cues that were associated with learning that occurred during the previous wakefulness period. The explanation I posted was that cue-dependent sleep learning can work because a normal function of sleep is to strengthen memories of new information and that presenting relevant cues during sleep increases the retrieval of these memories and makes them accessible for rehearsal and strengthening.

一般来说，你睡觉时无法从新信息的声音中学习，尽管这在几十年前是一种时尚。 但是在之前的一篇文章中，我讨论了可以进行睡眠学习的新研究。 关键是播放与上一次清醒期间发生的学习相关的声音提示。 我发布的解释是，依赖于线索的睡眠学习可以起作用，因为睡眠的正常功能是加强对新信息的记忆，并且在睡眠期间呈现相关线索增加了对这些记忆的检索并使得它们可以进行排练和加强。

The latest experiment by a different group shows that this cuing during sleep can modify bad attitudes and habits. The test involved counter stereotype-training of certain biased attitudes during wakefulness, and investigators reactivated that counter-training during sleep by playing a sound cue that had been associated with the wakefulness training.

不同小组的最新实验表明，睡眠时的这种咒语可以改变不良的态度和习惯。 该测试涉及对清醒期间某些偏见态度的反陈规定型训练，并且调查人员通过播放与清醒训练相关的声音提示重新激活睡眠期间的反训练。

In the experiment, before a 90-minute nap, 40 white males and females were trained to counter their existing gender and racial biases by counter-training. A formal surveyed allowed quantification of each person's level of gender or racial bias before and after counter-training. For example, one bias was that females are not good at math. Subjects were conditioned to have a more favorable attitude about women and math with counter-training that repeatedly associated female faces with science-related words.

在实验中，在90分钟的午睡之前，对40名白人男性和女性进行了训练，以通过反训练来对抗他们现有的性别和种族偏见。 正式调查可以在反训练前后对每个人的性别或种族偏见进行量化。 例如，一个偏见是女性不擅长数学。 受试者习惯于对女性和数学采取更有利的态度，通过反训练将女性面孔与科学相关的词语重复联系起来。

Similarly, racial bias toward blacks was countered by associating black faces with highly positive words. In each training situation, whenever the subject saw a pairing that was incompatible with their existing bias they pressed a "correct" button, which yielded a confirmatory sound tone that was unique for each bias condition. Subjects were immediately tested for their learning by showing a face (female or black) and the counter-training cue, whereupon they were to drag the appropriate bias-free face on to a screen with the positive word. For example, if the first test screen was that of a woman, accompanied by the sound cue, the subject dragged a woman's face onto a second screen that said "good at math." Results revealed that this conditioning worked: both kinds of bias were reduced immediately after counter-conditioning.

同样，通过将黑色面孔与高度积极的词语联系起来，可以抵消对黑人的种族偏见。 在每种训练情况下，每当受试者看到与其现有偏差不相容的配对时，他们按下“正确”按钮，这产生了对于每种偏置条件唯一的确认声音。 通过显示面部（女性或黑色）和反训练提示立即测试受试者的学习，然后他们将适当的无偏脸拖到具有正面词的屏幕上。 例如，如果第一个测试屏幕是女性的屏幕，伴随着声音提示，主体将一个女人的脸拖到第二个屏幕上，表示“擅长数学”。 结果显示，这种调理有效：反调节后两种偏差立即减少。

Then during the nap, as soon as EEG signs indicated the presence of deep sleep, the appropriate sound cue was played repeatedly to reactivate the prior learning. When subjects re-took the bias survey a week later, the social bias was reduced in the sound-cued group, but not in the control group that was trained without sound cues.

然后在午睡期间，一旦EEG标志指示存在深度睡眠，就重复播放适当的声音提示以重新激活先前的学习。 当受试者在一周后重新进行偏见调查时，声音组中的社会偏见减少了，但是没有健全线索训练的对照组没有减少。

Experimenters noted that the long-term improvement of bias was associated with rapid-eye-movement (REM) (dream) sleep which often followed the deep sleep during early stages of the nap. That is, the beneficial effect was proportional to the amount of nap time spent in both slow-wave sleep and REM sleep, not either alone. It may be that memories are reactivated by cuing during deep (slow-wave) sleep, but that the actual cell-level storage of memory is provided by REM sleep.

实验者注意到，偏倚的长期改善与快速眼动（REM）（梦）睡眠有关，这通常在午睡的早期阶段进行深度睡眠。 也就是说，有益效果与慢波睡眠和REM睡眠中所花费的午睡时间成比例，而不是单独使用。 可能是在深度（慢波）睡眠期间通过提示重新激活记忆，但记忆的实际细胞级存储由REM睡眠提供。

Implications of this approach to enhancing learning and memory show a great deal of promise. Can it be used for enhancing learning in school? Can it be used in rehabilitation of addicts or criminals? But there is a dark side. Now might be a good time to re-read Huxley's Brave New World wherein he actually described conditioning values in young children while they slept. Sleep is a state where people are mentally vulnerable and without conscious control over their thoughts. Malevolent people could impose this kind of conditioning and memory enhancement on others for nefarious purposes. These techniques may have valid social engineering applications, but they must be guided by ethical considerations.

这种方法对增强学习和记忆的启示显示出很大的希望。 它可以用来加强学校的学习吗？ 它可以用于成瘾者或罪犯的康复吗？ 但是有一个黑暗的一面。 现在可能是重新阅读赫胥黎的勇敢新世界的好时机，他实际上描述了幼儿在睡觉时的调节价值。 睡眠是一种人们在精神上处于弱势并且无法有意识地控制自己思想的状态。 恶毒的人可能会出于邪恶的目的将这种调节和记忆增强强加给他人。 这些技术可能具有有效的社会工程应用，但必须遵循道德考虑。