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Smartphone apps and YouTube channels offer an easy way to learn Spanish: pop on a pair of headphones, drift off to sleep to the soothing sounds of “Buenos días” and “¿Cómo te llamas?”, and wake up with a new language under your belt. If this sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is.
“If you try putting on headphones and listening to a language-learning tape while asleep, you probably won’t get much out of it,” says psychologist Marc Züst.
That’s because learning new information isn’t quite so easy as popping in headphones and passively listening to taped lectures while you slumber — not yet, anyway.
Neuroscientists have known for decades that sleep plays an integral role in learning and memory. A pioneering study in 1924 demonstrated that people remembered nonsense syllables better when they slept a bit between learning them and being tested on them. This finding suggested sleep somehow protects memories from all those little interfering things that tend to help us forget.
Sleep is important for hitting the “save button” on new memories, says Scott Cairney, a psychologist at England’s University of York. And new research shows sleep offers much more than just passive protection for what we’ve learned during the day.
“It is now generally agreed that an active process takes place in sleep that stabilizesand transforms memories, making them more resistant to decay,” Cairney says. “This consolidation process is also important for learning new information, paving the way for new learning the next day.”
When you lay down to rest, your brain activity shifts from small, high-frequency waves to bigger, slower oscillations with bursts of activity called spindles. That shift promotes memory reactivation — the neurons that fired when you first formed a memory trace replay their firing pattern, strengthening the connections between them and the memory itself.
Cairney’s lab studies this using a technique called targeted memory reactivation. In one study, he asked volunteers to learn a series of word-image pairings, like the word exotic paired with a picture of a butterfly. Each pair was associated with a unique sound or tone. Then, when brain recordings indicated they’d entered deep sleep, Cairney’s team replayed some of the unique sounds. The next day, volunteers could more easily recall the pairs that had been cued up with the sounds overnight.
While the results show memory reactivation during sleep is crucial to memory, it seems the learning part of the program still has to occur during waking hours for any effect. But a recent study by Züst and his colleagues at the University of Bern in Switzerland suggests the sleeping brain is capable of absorbing new information — albeit, perhaps, unintentionally.
In the study, participants heard made-up words and their German translations during deep sleep. The brain oscillates between active phases, or “up-states,” and passive phases, or “down-states,” of activity during deep sleep. When presented with the made-up words the next morning, the volunteers were able to determine whether they represented large or small objects — but only if the word pairs were presented during the “up-state.”
“Based on these findings, we hypothesize that up-states constitute windows of opportunity to learn new information during slow wave sleep,” Züst says. The memory traces remained intact into the following morning, even though volunteers couldn’t recall ever seeing the words before. “It’s an implicit, unconscious form of memory,” he says.
But before you buy that sleep-learning app, Züst cautions that we still have a lot to learn before we can apply this research outside the lab. “Timing is key. Not all of slow wave sleep is conducive to sleep learning. You really need to hit those up-states,” Züst says.
Though we may one day be able to harness sleep to support learning, Cairney agrees we’re not there yet. “We are a long way off from using recordings to help save new memories or learn a new language,” he says. “But, that said, we do know that sleep is the glue that holds learning and memory together.”
So, if you really want to learn a new language, take a class during the day and concentrate on getting some quality ZZZ’s at night.
About the Author
Kayt Sukel
Kayt Sukel is a science and technology writer based outside Houston, Texas.
References
Gaskell, M. G., Cairney, S. A., & Rodd, J. M. (2019). Contextual priming of word meanings is stabilized over sleep. Cognition, 182, 109–126. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.09.007
Jenkins, J. G., & Dallenbach, K. M. (1924). Obliviscence During Sleep and Waking. The American Journal of Psychology, 35, 605–612. doi: 10.2307/1414040
Züst, M. A., Ruch, S., Wiest, R., & Henke, K. (2019). Implicit Vocabulary Learning during Sleep Is Bound to Slow-Wave Peaks. Current Biology: CB, 29(4), 541-553.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.12.038
FAQs
Recent research demonstrates that learning during sleep is possible, but that sleep-learning invariably produces memory traces that are consciously inaccessible in the awake state. Thus, sleep-learning can likely exert implicit, but not explicit, influences on awake behavior.
Can you learn things in your sleep? ›
But a recent study by Züst and his colleagues at the University of Bern in Switzerland suggests the sleeping brain is capable of absorbing new information — albeit, perhaps, unintentionally. In the study, participants heard made-up words and their German translations during deep sleep.
Is it possible to learn a language while sleeping? ›
Well, no. You can't learn a whole language in your sleep – it's too complex. While plenty of studies have been done on sleep learning, the results have been generally inconclusive, and no one has been able to master tricky concepts like grammar rules in their sleep. But you may be able to help yourself along!
Does listening to study while sleeping work? ›
Absorbing complex information or picking up a new skill from scratch by, say, listening to an audio recording during sleep is almost certainly impossible. But research shows that the sleeping brain is far from idle and that some forms of learning can happen.
What is it called when you learn in your sleep? ›
Sleep-learning (also known as hypnopædia or hypnopedia) is an attempt to convey information to a sleeping person, typically by playing a sound recording to them while they sleep.
Can I study while lying down? ›
Reading whilst in a horizontal position causes a strain on the muscles around the eyes. The strain is particularly felt by the extraocular muscles that are responsible for eye movement. The fatigue caused by reading when lying down can mean that you're taking a little longer to read each page.
Can you study in your dreams? ›
Lucid dreaming gives you the ability to visualize study materials while dreaming. As earlier mentioned, we can use visuals and memory palaces to learn new educational material. However, just like most learning techniques, it takes time and a lot of trial and error to eventually get it right.
What is the hardest language to learn? ›
1. Mandarin Chinese. Interestingly, the hardest language to learn is also the most widely spoken native language in the world. Mandarin Chinese is challenging for a number of reasons.
Is it possible to talk in your sleep? ›
Many people talk in their sleep at some point in their life—whether they know it or not. In fact, studies suggest 2 in 3 people experience the behavior. According to Milena Pavlova, MD, a Mass General Brigham neurologist, sleep talking begins inside the brain.
Can you learn Japanese while sleeping? ›
You can use passive tools in order to make sleep-aided learning possible. There's some potential to learn while you sleep, but you just have to know how to do it the right way and keep your expectations in line with reality. If you can do that, then you can do your language studies a big favor.
What's the takeaway from this research? Sacrificing sleep for studying does not actually improve your performance. In fact, spending more time asleep during finals week could actually help you earn better grades.
Can you learn subconsciously? ›
According to Krashen and proponents of the subconscious learning theory, our ability to remember is limited, but our ability to subconsciously train our skills is unlimited. The subconscious mind forgets nothing and can help to speak fluent English in less time.
Can you memorize songs in your sleep? ›
The type of learning that happens during sleep tends to involve pairing, conditioning, and associations. These abilities could potentially help you remember a piece of music or pick up a new language more quickly.
Can I learn things in my sleep? ›
Can information that is processed during sleep influence awake behavior? Recent research demonstrates that learning during sleep is possible, but that sleep-learning invariably produces memory traces that are consciously inaccessible in the awake state.
What is paradox sleep? ›
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is called paradoxical sleep because it involves seemingly contradictory states of an active mind and a sleeping body. The term paradoxical sleep was coined by the French researcher Dr. Michel Jouvet.
Can you learn from your dreams? ›
In this different state, our brain thinks much more visually and intuitively, less verbally and logically.” The consensus among dream enthusiasts and scientists alike is while we can't definitively assign meaning to every dream, we can certainly use the feelings they evoke to strengthen our understanding of ourselves.
Is it possible to do things in your sleep? ›
Parasomnias are disruptive sleep-related disorders. Abnormal movements, talk, emotions and actions happen while you're sleeping although your bed partner might think you're awake. Examples include sleep terrors, sleepwalking, nightmare disorder, sleep-related eating disorder and sleep paralysis.
Does sleep have an effect on learning? ›
If you haven't slept, your ability to learn new things could drop by up to 40%. “You can't pull an all-nighter and still learn effectively,” Walker says. Lack of sleep affects a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is key for making new memories.
Do you learn faster in your sleep? ›
Sleep learning, or the idea that you can learn new information while you sleep, isn't supported by scientific evidence. However, sleep plays a crucial role in memory consolidation and learning.
