睡觉时也能学习新东西？原来大脑并没有休息

Your Brain Really Can Form New Memories While You Sleep

你的大脑真的能在睡觉时记住东西

A sleeping brain can form fresh memories, according to a team of neuroscientists.

根据一组神经科学家的研究，睡觉时的大脑是可以形成新记忆的。

The researchers played complex sounds to people while they were sleeping, and afterward the sleepers could recognise those sounds when they were awake.

研究者们在人睡觉的时候给他们播放了复杂的声音，而这些人醒来后能够认出这些声音。

In the new study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, neuroscientists demonstrated that it is possible to teach acoustic lessons to sleeping people.

《自然通讯》杂志在8月8号发布了一篇新报道，神经科学家们在里面声称：向睡觉的人教授音频课程是可能的。

"We proved that you can learn during sleep, which has been a topic debated for years," said Thomas Andrillon, an author of the study and a neuroscientist at PSL Research University in Paris.

“我们已经证明了人可以在睡觉的时候学习，这个话题已经争论了好几年了。”说这话的是托马斯·安德里隆，他是这项研究的一位作者，也是巴黎的PSL研究大学的一名神经科学家。

In recent years, scientists have trained sleepers to make subconscious associations.

近几年，科学家已经在训练睡觉的人在潜意识中建立关联。

In a 2017 study, Israeli neuroscientists had 66 people smell cigarette smoke coupled with foul odours while they were asleep. The test subjects avoided smoking for two weeks after the experiment.

在一项2017年的研究中，以色列的神经科学家让66个人在睡觉的时候闻到香烟和恶臭的混合气味。实验之后，这些受试者在两周以内都不愿意接触烟味。

In Andrillon's view, the experiment helps to reconcile two competing theories about the role of sleep in new memories:

在安德里隆看来，这项实验调和了两项正处于竞争关系的理论，这两条理论都是关于在睡眠中形成新记忆的：

In one idea, our sleeping brains replay memories from our waking lives. As they're played back, the memories consolidate and grow stronger, written more firmly into our synapses.

其中一个观点是，我们睡觉时，大脑会回放白天的生活，而随着它的回放，我们的记忆会固化并得到加强，最终在突触中长得更牢固。

In the other hypothesis, sleep instead cuts away at older, weaker memories. But the ones that remain stand out, like lonely trees in a field.

在另一个假说中，睡眠其实是在剪掉较老、较弱的记忆。而那些剩下来的就会显得更明显，就如同平地上的一棵树。

The study indicates that the sleeping brain can do both, Andrillon said. They might simply occur at separate moments in the sleep cycle, strengthening fresh memories followed by culling.

安德里隆说，这项研究表明，睡觉时的大脑同时能做这两件事。它们可能只是在睡眠的不同阶段发生而已，强化新记忆和剔除记忆交互进行。

A separate team of neuroscientists had suspected that the two hypotheses might be complementary. But until now they did not have any explicit experimental support.

另一个独立的神经科学家研究团队怀疑，这两个假说可能是互补的。不过，在此以前，它们并没有确凿的实验证据来支持。

When asked whether understanding the roles of sleep cycles and memory could lead to future sleep-hacks, Andrillon said, "We are in the big unknown."

当被问及“理解睡眠周期与记忆的关系能否让我们在未来获得跟睡眠相关的黑科技”，安德里隆说：“我们正处在巨大的未知当中。”

But, he noted, sleep is not just about memory. Trying to hijack sleep could disrupt normal brain function.

但他还指出：睡觉并不是仅仅关于记忆。试图操纵睡眠可能会打乱大脑的正常工作。

Which is to say, even if you could learn French while asleep, it might ultimately do more harm than good.

也就是说，即使我们能在睡觉的时候学法语，最终造成的伤害也可能比益处多。

"I would be very cautious about the interest in this kind of learning," he said, "whether this is detrimental to the other functions of sleeping."

他说：“我对这种学习方式是非常谨慎的，不论它是不是对睡眠的其他功能有害。”