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We've probably all done this at some point in our lives:
我们可能在生活中都会经历这样的事情：
it's the night before a big exam, and … you haven't started studying yet.
第二天就要大考了，还没开始学习呢。
You'll just have to cram as much information as possible into your brain in one night and hope you remember it tomorrow.
你要在一夜之间把尽可能多的信息塞进大脑，并希望明天能记住。
Wouldn't it be nice if you could just go to sleep, have a recording of everything you need to know playing in the background, and wake up ready for the test?
如果能在睡觉时播放你需要知道的所有知识的录音，然后醒来准备考试，这不是很好吗?
Unfortunately for those of us who are chronic procrastinators, that doesn't work.
不幸的是，对于我们这些拖拉的人来说，这个方法是行不通的。
You can't learn new information while you sleep.
人们不能在睡觉的时候学习新的知识。
But it turns out that you can boost your recall of what you studied while you were awake.
但事实证明，醒着的时候，可以提高对所学内容的回忆。
The idea that you can learn totally new information while you sleep has been debunked for a long time.
长期以来，人们一直认为睡觉可以学到新知识。
Way back in 1955, researchers showed pretty conclusively that it doesn't work.
早在1955年，研究人员就相当肯定地证明这种方法是行不通的。
Earlier studies had suggested that people could learn new things just by hearing them in their sleep,
早期研究表明，人们可以通过在睡梦中听到新事物来学习新事物，
but there were problems with the methods used in those studies,
但是这些研究中使用的方法存在问题，
so the team wanted to look into it more closely.
所以研究小组想进行更深入地研究。
Using an EEG, which measures brain activity, to monitor how deeply asleep the subjects were,
通过测量大脑活动的脑电图，来监测受试者的熟睡程度，
they found that people were only able to remember the information played to them if they heard it when they were in the lighter stages of sleep.
他们发现，只有在睡眠较浅的时候听到给他们播放的信息，他们才能记住这些信息。
The … really, really light stages.
非常非常浅的睡眠。
So light, in fact, that the participants were actually mostly awake.
事实上，睡眠很浅，以至于受试者几乎是醒着的。
62 years later, that study's conclusions still stand:
62年后，这项研究的结论仍然成立：
there's no good evidence that you can learn totally new information in your sleep.
没有足够的证据表明，人可以在睡眠中学习全新的信息。
But scientists have found that there might be a way to boost the part of the learning process that happens during sleep.
但科学家们发现，也许有一种方法可以在睡眠过程中促进学习。
Sleep plays a vital role in how you create and store memories.
睡眠在你如何建立和储存记忆方面起着至关重要的作用。
While you're awake, you learn all sorts of new stuff, taking in facts and experiences just from going about your everyday life.
醒着的时候，你会学到各种各样的新知识，从日常生活中获取的事实和经验。
That's when your brain encodes memories, making new connections between neurons so you can remember it all later.
这时你的大脑对记忆进行编码，在神经元之间建立新的连接，这样你之后就能记住所有的知识。
Then, when you go to sleep, your brain goes through the consolidation phase of memory formation.
然后，当你入睡时，大脑进入巩固记忆的阶段。
Scientists aren't totally sure how that works,
科学家并不完全确定大脑的工作原理，
but they think your brain turns all that stuff you just learned into solid, long term memories by reactivating them and strengthening those new connections.
但是他们认为，大脑重新激活并加强那些新的联系，把刚刚学到的知识变成了牢固、长期的记忆。
And recent research has found that there are ways to kind of hack that process.
最近研究发现，有一些方法可以破解这一过程。
In a 2007 study, for example, a group of neuroscientists had people learn the locations of a bunch of different objects while it smelled like roses,
例如，2007年的一项研究中，一组神经科学家让人们在闻玫瑰的同时，了解一堆不同物体的位置，
then made it smell like roses again while they were asleep.
然后在他们睡着的时候再次闻到玫瑰。
When they woke up, the subjects were better at remembering where the objects were, compared to when they did the same task without any smells.
当受试者醒来时，和在没有气味的情况下对物体位置的记忆相比，他们在有气味的情况下能更好地记住物体位置，
The researchers proposed that when the subjects smelled roses while they slept, that boosted the memory consolidation process because their brains associated the smell with the memories of the object locations.
研究人员指出，受试者在睡觉时闻到玫瑰香味时，大脑会将这种气味与对物体位置的记忆联系起来，从而巩固记忆。
Basically, the smell acted as a cue to their brains to reactivate those memories, strengthening the connections between the neurons that stored them.
基本上，这种气味是大脑重新激活这些记忆的线索，加强了储存这些记忆的神经元之间的联系。
And stronger connections meant they had an easier time recalling the memories when they woke up.
更强的联系意味着他们醒来后更容易回忆起往事。
That 2007 study was small, but later studies that tested the idea found similar results.
2007年的研究规模较小，但后来检验这一观点的研究发现了类似的结果。
And other research has found that this works with more than just odor cues.
其它研究发现，这种方法不仅适用于气味提示。
You can do it with sound, too.
也适用于声音。
For example, in a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience in 2013, 60 people were asked to place 72 images in different locations on a computer screen.
例如，2013年发表在《神经科学杂志》上的一项研究中，60人被要求在电脑屏幕上的不同位置放置72幅图像。
Each time they placed an item, a corresponding sound was played—so for example, if they were placing down a picture of a cat, they'd hear a meow.
每放置一副图像，就会播放相应的声音——例如，如果他们放一张猫的照片，会听到猫叫。
They were told that remembering each of these items later on would earn them a certain number of points.
他们被告知，以后记住每个图像将会赢得一定分数。
Half of the items had super high point values, and half were super low.
一半图像具有超高值，一半图像具有超低值。
But to get the most points possible, they had to remember where they placed absolutely everything.
但是为了得到尽可能多的分数，他们必须记住所有图像都放在哪里。
And with 72 items, that wouldn't be easy.
记住72幅图像就不容易了。
After they'd made their placements, the subjects took a 90 minute nap—just about enough for one full cycle of sleep.
受试者小睡90分钟——刚好够一个完整的睡眠周期。
While the people in the experimental group were sleeping, they were played 18 of the sounds associated with low value items.
当受试者睡觉时，他们听到了18种与低价值图像相关的声音。
The people in the control group just slept with white noise playing instead.
对照组的人只是在播放白噪音的情况下睡觉。
Once they were wide awake and trying to remember the locations of as many items as they could for those sweet, sweet science points,
一旦受试者完全睡醒并试图记住尽可能多的图像的位置，
the subjects mostly remembered the ones with high point values.
受试者大多记得那些得分高的。
But the people in the experimental group also tended to remember the low-value items—the ones they'd been reminded of while they slept.
但是对照组的人也往往记得低值图像——睡时提醒他们记住的图像
The researchers concluded that, just like in the studies on odor cues, the sounds cued the subjects' brains to reactivate the memories associated with them.
研究人员得出的结论是，和气味提示的研究一样，声音提示受试者的大脑重新激活与之相关的记忆。
That strengthened those memories, so they were better at recalling them later.
这加强了他们的记忆，所以之后他们更能回想起来。
And, again like with odor cues, other studies have also found that sound cues can boost your recall.
另外，和气味提示一样，其他研究也发现声音提示可以提高记忆力。
For example, in a 2014 study that involved 68 subjects, a group of researchers found that playing sound cues while people were asleep helped them learn a new language.
例如，在2014年一项涉及68名受试者的研究中，一组研究人员发现，人们在睡觉时播放声音有助于学习一门新语言。
They had people learn 120 new words and their translations, then played some of those new words back to them while they slept.
他们让受试者学习120个新单词和翻译，然后在他们睡觉时放一些新单词给他们听。
The team found that people were able to remember about 10% more of the cued words than the words they hadn't heard while they were asleep.
研究小组发现，人们能够记住的单词比他们睡觉时不听声音记住的单词多10%。
But, in a follow-up study published the next year, the same group of researchers found that if they played the new words and their translations,
但是，在第二年发表的一项后续研究中，同一组研究人员发现，如果他们播放新词及其翻译，
the memory boost went away.
记忆增强消失了。
So, it wasn't hearing the information while they slept that helped them remember it.
所以，并不是睡觉时听到的信息。
It was the sound they associated with the memory.
而是与记忆联系在一起的声音帮助他们记忆。
When they heard the word and its translation, it became more than a simple sound cue, and the second word interfered with the memory consolidation process.
当他们听到这个词和它的翻译，它就不仅仅是一个简单的声音提示，而第二个词干扰了记忆。
So the next time you're cramming for a test, you might want to try connecting the new information with certain sounds or smells,
所以下次准备考试死记硬背的时候，你可以试着把新信息和某些声音或气味联系起来，
then letting yourself hear or smell those things again when you go to sleep.
然后在你睡觉的时候让自己再次听到或闻到这些东西。
You still might not do as well as you would have if you'd just studied properly,
如果你好好学习的话，可能结果还是不理想，
but hacking your memory could help you get a few more questions right.
但是了解记忆可以帮助你答对更多的问题。
Good luck!
祝你好运！
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢收看本期心理科学秀！
If you want to learn more cool stuff like this about our weird human brains,
如果你想了解更多关于人类大脑的新奇酷炫的事儿，
you can go to youtube.com/scishowpsych and subscribe.
可以登陆youtube.com/scishowpsych订阅我们的节目。
