How sound can hack your memory while you sleep | DIY Neuroscience, a TED series

Translator: Ivana Korom Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

譯者: Ruizhe Wang 審譯者: H_L Au

Greg Gage: Who wouldn't love acing a geography exam,

格雷格·蓋奇： 誰不想在地理考試中取得好成績

remembering all the locations of the countries on a map

記得世界上所有國家的地理位置

or avoiding embarrassing situations of suddenly forgetting the person's name

或是避免突然忘記 面前那人名字的尷尬場面

standing right in front of you.

It turns out that memory, like other muscles in the body,

結果發現原來記憶 就如我們體內的肌肉一樣

可以增強和增加

can be strengthened and enhanced.

But instead of practicing with flash cards,

但比起用記憶卡去訓練

可能還有一個更有趣的訓練方式：

there may be an interesting way

that we can hack our memory while we sleep.

我們可以在熟睡時駭入自己的記憶

[DIY 神經科學]

(Music)

（音樂）

我們為什麼要睡覺？

Why do we sleep?

This has been a question asked since the early days of civilization.

從文明誕生開始就出現的問題

And while we may not know the exact answer,

雖然我們不知道確切的答案

there are a number of really good theories about why we need it.

但已經有許多出色理論 解釋我們需要睡眠的原因

睡眠是我們的大腦

Sleep is when the brain transfers short-term memories

將一天經歷的短期記憶

experienced throughout the day

轉化為長期記憶的時間

into long-term memories.

This process is called memory consolidation,

這個過程稱為記憶鞏固

and it's the memory consolidation theory that has scientists wondering

這個過程讓一些科學家不禁思考

if we can enhance certain memories over others.

我們可否增強某些特定的記憶

There was a paper recently in the journal "Science"

在期刊《科學》上有一篇近期的論文

by Ken Paller and his colleagues at Northwestern

由肯·帕勒 和他在西北大學的同事發表

that seemed to show that this may be true,

似乎顯示了這個想法可能沒錯

and that piqued our curiosity.

這激起了我們的好奇心

喬德一直在嘗試自己做這個任務

Joud has been working on a DIY version of this task

to see if we can improve memories through the use of sound in sleep.

測試我們可否用聲音改進睡眠記憶

So Joud, how do you test if we can improve our memories with sleep?

喬德，你準備如何測試 我們可否用聲音改進睡眠記憶呢？

Joud Mar’i: We need a human subject.

喬德·馬里：我們需要一個志願者

[Step 1: Play a game]

[第一步：玩一個遊戲]

We have a memory game that we have on an iPad,

我們的 iPad 有一個記憶遊戲

and then we make our subject play this game

然後我們讓志願者玩這個遊戲

and remember the images and where they appear on the screen.

讓他們記住圖像 和出現在螢幕上的位置

格：這就像你小時候玩的記憶遊戲：

GG: So this is like a memory game you used to play as a child,

哪張圖片在哪裡

which picture was where.

And we tie each picture with a sound that represents it.

我們將圖片與可以代表 這個圖片的聲音綑綁

JM: So, if you can see a picture of a car, for example,

喬：所以，如果你看到汽車的圖片

and you would hear the car engine.

你就會聽見汽車引擎的聲音

(Car engine starting)

（汽車引擎發動）

GG: Just before you go to sleep we're going to test you.

格：在你睡覺之前，我們將測試你

We're going to see how well you remember where the pictures are.

測試你記住圖片位置的能力

你每次看到圖片都會聽見那聲響

Every time you see the picture, you're going to hear the sound.

And now comes the experiment.

現在實驗開始

You're going to go take a nap.

你將小睡片刻

[Step 2: Take a nap]

[第二步：小睡]

And while you're sleeping, we're going to be recording your EEG.

你睡覺時，我們會紀錄你的腦電波圖

JM: And then we wait for them to go into what's called the slow-wave sleep,

喬：然後等待他們進入所謂的慢波睡眠

這是最深層的睡眠階段 在這個階段你很難醒過來

which is the deepest phase of your sleep where it's really hard for you to wake up.

GG: OK, pause.

格：好的，暫停

這裡有一些關於睡眠的資訊

So, here's some information on sleep.

睡眠分四個階段： 較輕度的睡眠和睡眠快速動眼期

There are four stages: we have lighter stages of sleep and REM,

但我們感興趣的是慢波睡眠

but what we're interested in is called slow-wave sleep.

And it gets its name from the electrical signals

它的名字由從大腦中檢測到的

called Delta waves that we record from the brain.

德爾塔波的電信號而來

這睡眠時期就是

This is the part of sleep where scientists believe

科學家認為會發生記憶鞏固的部分

that memory consolidation can happen.

In this deep period of sleep,

在這個深度睡眠時期

we're going to do something that you don't know we're going to do.

我們要做一些你們不知道的事

喬︰這就是巧妙的地方了 我們要開始播放提示音了

JM: Here's where the tricky part comes, and we start playing our cues.

（汽車引擎發動）

(Car engine starting)

GG: Do you play all the cues?

格：你會播放所有的提示音？

JM: No. We only want to play half of them to see if there's a difference.

喬︰不，我們只想播放 當中的一半，再看兩者差異

GG: So your hypothesis is

格：所以你的假設是

the one that they were listening to while they're sleeping

他們睡眠時有聽到提示音的

they're going to do better at.

之後就會表現得較好

JM: Yes, exactly.

喬︰對，沒錯

GG: When you wake back up and play the game again,

[第四步：再玩一次] 喬：當你醒來再次玩這個遊戲

do you do better or worse than before a nap?

與睡前相比 你會表現得更好還是更差？

What we found is that if we played you a cue during your sleep,

我們發現了如果在你睡覺時 播放了一個提示音

for example, a car --

例如，汽車

當你醒過來

You would remember the position of that car

你就會記得那輛汽車的位置

when you woke back up again.

但如果沒有在你睡覺時播放提示音

But if we didn't play you the cue during the sleep,

例如，吉他

for example, a guitar,

you'd be less likely to remember that guitar when you woke up.

你醒來時不太會記得那把吉他

The memories that were cued they remembered better

他們能夠記起那些被提示過的記憶

而記不住另外那些記憶

than the ones they weren't,

even though they don't remember hearing those sounds?

即使自己不記得聽過那些聲音？

喬︰是，我們問過他們

JM: Yes, we ask them.

格：我們知道他們在睡覺 聽不見那些聲音

GG: We know they're sleeping, they can't hear it, they wake up,

但當他們醒來 這部分的表現會比沒聽過的好

they do better on those than the ones you didn't play.

格：太令人驚嘆了 喬︰就像魔法一樣

GG: That's amazing. JM: It's like magic.

GG: Joud ran this experiment on 12 people and the results were significant.

格︰喬德在 12 個人身上 進行這項測試，結果很顯著

並不是你更能記住東西

It's not that you remember things better; it's that you forget them less.

而是你比較不會忘記

一開始聽你說在睡覺時播放音樂

I was a huge skeptic when I first heard that you could do better at a memory test

從而令記憶測試中表現得更好時

just by playing sounds during sleep.

我是非常質疑的

但當我們重複了這些實驗後

But we replicated these experiments.

我們從日常生活收集的 事實和記憶都十分脆弱

The facts and memories we collect throughout the day are very fragile,

而且很容易被遺忘

and they are easily lost and forgotten.

但是透過睡覺將它們再次啟動

But by reactivating them during sleep, even without us being aware,

甚至在我們意識不到的情況下

it seems like we could make them more stable and less prone to forgetting.

就可以使他們更穩固且不易被遺忘

真的非常難以置信

That's pretty incredible.

我們的大腦甚至在我們不清醒時 還在保持清醒

Our brains are still active even when we're not.

So if you're like me and a bit forgetful,

如果你像我一樣有一點點健忘

perhaps a solution is a pair of headphones and a soft couch.

也許解決之道就是

一副耳機和一張舒適的沙發