Sleep Away Your Bad Attitudes
来源: http://thankyoubrain.blogspot.jp/2015/06/sleep-away-your-bad-attitudes.html
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Generally speaking, you cannot learn from sounds of new information while you sleep, though this was a fad /fæd/ 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/kju/ that were associated with learning that occurred during the previous wakefulness /‘wekfəlnɪs/ 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/rɪ'trivl/ of these memories and makes them accessible for rehearsal/rɪ'hɝsl/ and strengthening/'streŋθəniŋ/.
fad /fæd/
* n. 时尚；一时的爱好；一时流行的狂热
* cues/kju/
* n. 开端，线索；提示，关键；球杆；诱因（cue的复数形式）
wakefulness /‘wekfəlnɪs/
* n. [生理] 觉醒；不眠
* retrieval/rɪ'trivl/
* n. 检索；恢复；取回；拯救
* rehearsal/rɪ'hɝsl/
* n. 排演；预演；练习；训练；叙述
* strengthening/'streŋθəniŋ/
* v. 强化；加固（strengthen的ing形式）
* n. 加强；加固；加固件
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/'baɪəst/ attitudes during wakefulness, and investigators reactivated that counter-training during sleep by playing a sound cue that had been associated with the wakefulness training.
biased/'baɪəst
* adj. 有偏见的；结果偏倚的，有偏的
stereotype-training 刻板的训练
In the experiment, before a 90-minute nap /næp/, 40 white males and females were trained to counter their existing gender and racial/'reʃl/ biases by counter-training. A formal/'fɔrml/ 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/kən'dɪʃənd/ to have a more favorable attitude about women and math with counter-training that repeatedly associated female faces with science-related words.
nap /næp/
* n. 小睡，打盹儿；细毛；孤注一掷
* vt. 使拉毛
* vi. 小睡；疏忽
* n. (Nap)人名；(朝、越)纳
* racial/‘reʃl/
* adj. 种族的；人种的
* formal/‘fɔrml/
* adj. 正式的；拘谨的；有条理的
* n. 正式的社交活动；夜礼服
* n. (Formal)人名；(法)福马尔
Subjects
* n. 学科；科目（subject的复数）；[图情] 主题；被试者
* v. 使服从；使经受；提交（subject的三单形式）
* conditioned/kən'dɪʃənd/
* adj. 有条件的，受制约的；习惯于…的
* v. 使适应（condition的过去分词）；以…为条件
Similarly/‘sɪməlɚli/, 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 /jild/ a confirmatory/kən'fɜːmətərɪ/ 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.
yielded /jild/
1. vt. 出产；屈服；放弃
2. vi. 屈服，投降
3. n. 收益；产量
4. confirmatory/kən'fɜːmətərɪ/adj. 确定的,证实的
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.
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/ˌbɛnɪ'fɪʃl/ effect was proportional /prə'pɔrʃənl/ 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.
proportional /prə'pɔrʃənl/ adj. 比例的, 成比例的
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/ˌrihəˌbɪləˈteʃən/ of addicts or criminals/'krɪmɪnl/? 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 /'vʌlnərəbl/ and without conscious /'kɑnʃəs/ control over their thoughts. Malevolent /mə'lɛvələnt/ people could impose this kind of conditioning and memory enhancement on others for nefarious /nəˈfɛriəs/ purposes. These techniques may have valid social engineering applications, but they must be guided by ethical /‘ɛθɪkl/ considerations.
rehabilitation/ˌrihəˌbɪləˈteʃən/
1. n. 修复;复兴
2. 复职;恢复名誉,昭雪
3. (病残人的)康复,更新;(罪犯的)改过迁善
4. criminals/'krɪmɪnl/
5. n. 罪犯
6. adj. 犯罪的；刑事的；罪恶的
7. vulnerable /'vʌlnərəbl/
8. adj. 易受攻击的，易受…的攻击；易受伤害的；有弱点的
9. conscious /‘kɑnʃəs/
10. Malevolent /mə'lɛvələnt/adj. 有恶意的;恶毒的
nefarious /nəˈfɛriəs/adj. 极坏的;恶毒的
ethical/‘ɛθɪkl/
1. adj. 道德的；伦理的；凭处方出售的
2. n. 处方药
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The latest experiment by a different group shows that this cuing during sleep can modify bad attitudes and habits.
Implications of this approach to enhancing learning and memory show a great deal of promise.