How sound can hack your memory while you sleep
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0:00 - 0:03Greg Gage: Who wouldn't love
acing a geography exam, -
0:03 - 0:05remembering all the locations
of the countries on a map -
0:05 - 0:09or avoiding embarrassing situations
of suddenly forgetting the person's name -
0:09 - 0:11standing right in front of you.
-
0:11 - 0:13It turns out that memory,
like other muscles in the body, -
0:13 - 0:15can be strengthened and enhanced.
-
0:15 - 0:17But instead of practicing
with flash cards, -
0:17 - 0:19there may be an interesting way
-
0:19 - 0:21that we can hack our memory
while we sleep. -
0:21 - 0:24(Music)
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0:26 - 0:27Why do we sleep?
-
0:27 - 0:31This has been a question asked
since the early days of civilization. -
0:31 - 0:33And while we may not know
the exact answer, -
0:33 - 0:36there are a number of really
good theories about why we need it. -
0:36 - 0:39Sleep is when the brain transfers
short-term memories -
0:39 - 0:40experienced throughout the day
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0:40 - 0:41into long-term memories.
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0:41 - 0:44This process is called
memory consolidation, -
0:44 - 0:47and it's the memory consolidation theory
that has scientists wondering -
0:47 - 0:49if we can enhance
certain memories over others. -
0:49 - 0:51There was a paper recently
in the journal "Science" -
0:51 - 0:54by Ken Paller and his colleagues
at Northwestern -
0:54 - 0:56that seemed to show that this may be true,
-
0:56 - 0:57and that piqued our curiosity.
-
0:57 - 1:00Joud has been working
on a DIY version of this task -
1:00 - 1:03to see if we can improve memories
through the use of sound in sleep. -
1:03 - 1:06So Joud, how do you test if we can
improve our memories with sleep? -
1:06 - 1:08Joud Mar’i: We need a human subject.
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1:09 - 1:11[Step 1: Play a game]
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1:11 - 1:13We have a memory game
that we have on an iPad, -
1:13 - 1:15and then we make our subject
play this game -
1:15 - 1:18and remember the images
and where they appear on the screen. -
1:18 - 1:21GG: So this is like a memory game
you used to play as a child, -
1:21 - 1:22which picture was where.
-
1:22 - 1:25And we tie each picture
with a sound that represents it. -
1:25 - 1:28JM: So, if you can see
a picture of a car, for example, -
1:28 - 1:30and you would hear the car engine.
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1:30 - 1:32(Car engine starting)
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1:32 - 1:34GG: Just before you go to sleep
we're going to test you. -
1:34 - 1:38We're going to see how well
you remember where the pictures are. -
1:38 - 1:41Every time you see the picture,
you're going to hear the sound. -
1:41 - 1:42And now comes the experiment.
-
1:42 - 1:44You're going to go take a nap.
-
1:44 - 1:45[Step 2: Take a nap]
-
1:46 - 1:49And while you're sleeping,
we're going to be recording your EEG. -
1:49 - 1:53JM: And then we wait for them to go
into what's called the slow-wave sleep, -
1:53 - 1:57which is the deepest phase of your sleep
where it's really hard for you to wake up. -
1:57 - 1:58GG: OK, pause.
-
1:58 - 2:00So, here's some information on sleep.
-
2:00 - 2:03There are four stages:
we have lighter stages of sleep and REM, -
2:03 - 2:06but what we're interested in
is called slow-wave sleep. -
2:06 - 2:08And it gets its name
from the electrical signals -
2:08 - 2:10called Delta waves
that we record from the brain. -
2:10 - 2:13This is the part of sleep
where scientists believe -
2:13 - 2:14that memory consolidation can happen.
-
2:15 - 2:16In this deep period of sleep,
-
2:16 - 2:19we're going to do something
that you don't know we're going to do. -
2:19 - 2:22JM: Here's where the tricky part comes,
and we start playing our cues. -
2:23 - 2:24(Car engine starting)
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2:24 - 2:26GG: Do you play all the cues?
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2:26 - 2:29JM: No. We only want to play half of them
to see if there's a difference. -
2:30 - 2:31GG: So your hypothesis is
-
2:31 - 2:34the one that they were listening to
while they're sleeping -
2:34 - 2:35they're going to do better at.
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2:35 - 2:37JM: Yes, exactly.
-
2:38 - 2:40GG: When you wake back up
and play the game again, -
2:40 - 2:43do you do better or worse
than before a nap? -
2:43 - 2:48What we found is that if we played you
a cue during your sleep, -
2:48 - 2:49for example, a car --
-
2:49 - 2:51You would remember
the position of that car -
2:51 - 2:53when you woke back up again.
-
2:53 - 2:55But if we didn't play you the cue
during the sleep, -
2:55 - 2:57for example, a guitar,
-
2:57 - 3:00you'd be less likely to remember
that guitar when you woke up. -
3:00 - 3:03The memories that were cued
they remembered better -
3:03 - 3:04than the ones they weren't,
-
3:05 - 3:07even though they don't remember
hearing those sounds? -
3:07 - 3:08JM: Yes, we ask them.
-
3:08 - 3:11GG: We know they're sleeping,
they can't hear it, they wake up, -
3:11 - 3:14they do better on those
than the ones you didn't play. -
3:14 - 3:16GG: That's amazing.
JM: It's like magic. -
3:16 - 3:19GG: Joud ran this experiment on 12 people
and the results were significant. -
3:19 - 3:23It's not that you remember things better;
it's that you forget them less. -
3:23 - 3:27I was a huge skeptic when I first heard
that you could do better at a memory test -
3:27 - 3:28just by playing sounds during sleep.
-
3:28 - 3:30But we replicated these experiments.
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3:30 - 3:33The facts and memories we collect
throughout the day are very fragile, -
3:33 - 3:35and they are easily lost and forgotten.
-
3:35 - 3:39But by reactivating them during sleep,
even without us being aware, -
3:39 - 3:42it seems like we could make them
more stable and less prone to forgetting. -
3:42 - 3:43That's pretty incredible.
-
3:43 - 3:46Our brains are still active
even when we're not. -
3:46 - 3:48So if you're like me and a bit forgetful,
-
3:48 - 3:51perhaps a solution is a pair
of headphones and a soft couch.
- Title:
- How sound can hack your memory while you sleep
- Speaker:
- DIY Neuroscience
- Description:
-
Can you cram for a test while you sleep? Our intrepid neuroscientists attempt to enhance memory by running experiments on subjects while they sleep. You'll be surprised by the results.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED Series
- Duration:
- 04:07
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How sound can hack your memory while you sleep | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for How sound can hack your memory while you sleep | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How sound can hack your memory while you sleep | ||
Brian Greene accepted English subtitles for How sound can hack your memory while you sleep | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How sound can hack your memory while you sleep |