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It's late in the evening, time to close the book and turn off the computer. You're done for the day. What you may not realize, however, is that the learning process actually continues in your dreams.
It might sound like science fiction, but researchers are increasingly focusing on the relationship between the knowledge and skills our brains absorb during the day and the often strange imaginings they generate at night. Scientists have found that dreaming about a task we've learned is associated with improved performance in that activity(suggesting that there's some truth to the popular idea that we're "getting" a foreign language once we begin dreaming in it). What': more, dreaming may be an essential part of understanding, organizing and retaining what we learn. While we sleep, research indicates, the brain replays the patterns of activity it experienced during waking hours, allowing us to enter what one psychologist calls a neural ( 神经的 )virtual reality.
A vivid example of such replay can be seen in a video researchers made recently about sleep disorders. They taught a series of dance moves to patients suffering from sleepwalking and related conditions. They then videotaped the subjects as they slept. Lying in bed, eyes closed, one female patient on the tape performed the dance moves she learned earlier— " the first direct and unambiguous demonstration of behavioral replay of a recently learned skill during human sleep writes lead author Delphine Oudiette.
Of course,most of us are not quite so energetic during sleep—but our brains are bus nonetheless. While our bodies are at rest, scientists theorize, our brains are extracting ( 提取 ) what's important from the information and events we've recently encountered ,then integrating that data into the vast store of what we already know—perhaps explaining why dreams are such an odd mixture of fresh experiences and old memories. A dream about something we've just learned seems to be a sign that the new knowledge has been processed effectively. In a 2010 study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers at Harvard Medical School reported that college students who dreamed about a computer maze task they had learned showed a 10-fold improvement in their ability to navigate the maze compared to participants who did not dream about the task.
Robert Stickgold, one of the Harvard researchers, suggests that studying right before bedtime or taking a nap following a study session in the afternoon might increase the odds of dreaming about the material. Think about that as your head hits the pillow tonight.
12. What happens when one enters a dream state?
A. The body continues to act as if the sleeper were awake.
B. The neural activity of the brain will become more intense
C. The brain once again experiences the learning activities of the day
D. The brain behaves as if it were playing a virtual reality video game.
13. What does the brain do while we are sleeping?
A. It replaces old information with new material
B. It processes and absorbs newly acquired data
C. It classifies information and places it in different files
D. It systematizes all the information collected during the day.
14. Which of the following can enhance learning according to Robert Stickgold?
A. Staying up late before finally going to bed.
B. Having a period of sleep right after studying.
C. Having a dream about anything you are interested in.
D. Thinking about the chances of dreaming about the material
15. What is the text mainly about?
A. How study affects people's dreams.
B. Why people learn more after sleeping.
C. What time students should study and sleep.
D. How dreaming may lead to improved learning outcomes.
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