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Posted by sky on August 14, 2000 at 01:16:25:In Reply to: sleep learning posted by Mah-ta Moussavi on March 04, 2000 at 20:33:56:
Kendler, H. H. (1963) Basic Psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, pp 6-7.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Several years ago an experiment (Simon & Emmons, 1956) was conducted upon a group of 21 men selected to serve as subjects, which threw much light upon the question whether learning could occur during sleep. The design of the experiment was to have these young men hear a series of 96 questions and answers while they were supposedly asleep. One such question-answer combination was: Question, "In what kind of store did Ulysses S. Grant work before the war?" Answer, "Before the war Ulysses S. Grant worked in a harware store." In order to estimate exactly what was learned during the sleep period, the researchers gave the young men, before they lay down, a test consisting of the 96 questions, which they were required to answer if they could. Each man's performance on this test provided a score from which the amount he learned later during the sleep period could be determined."Following the initial test, the men were permitted to sleep in comfortable beds for a period of eight hours. During this period their EEG's were taken continuiously while every five minutes one of the 96 question-answer combinations was broadcast through a loudspeaker at a normal conversational level. At the end of the eight-hour period the men were awakened (if they were not already awake) and permitted to wash and dress. Then they were tested. They were asked the very same questions they had been asked before and during the eight hour sleep peorid. Since the experiment had found out how many questions each subject could answer before the sleep-training period, he could determine what each subject had learned during that period. In addition the experimenter could estimate from the EEG records the depth of sleep of each subject at the very time he was acquiring any new piece of information. The results provided no support to the idea that learning can take place during sleep. When the EEG records revealed that the subjects were awake, or were simply relaxed with their eyes closed, they learned about 80 per cent of the information broadcast to them. However, when they were asleep, as defined by the patterns of the EEG record, thre was no evidence of learning. Consequently we must conclude that devices which purport to teach during sleep fail in their purpose. At best these gadgets, instead of teaching during sleep, keep people awake so that learning can take place."
Reference
Simon, C. W. & Emmons, W. H. (1956). Responses to material presented during various levels of sleep. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 51, 98 - 97. as described by Kendler (1963)
Addendum
There was a Psychological Bulletin article in the early mid-70's on sleep learning. Russian and American researchers were reaching conflicting conclusions about the reality of sleep learning. As I recall, the differences were a result of different operational definitions--what do you mean by sleep and what do you mean by learning.
Sleep Learning
There is some learning during sleep but this occurs mainly during periods of relative wakefulness (Simon & Emmons, 1956)
When wakefulness is controlled for by monitoring EEG and presenting material to participants when they are clearly sleeping, there is evidence that a very little bit of information is recalled (Aarons, 1976) ©1997 by Burrton Woodruff. All rights reserved.
http://psych.butler.edu/bwoodruf/courses/pos/sleeplrngexp.html
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