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In Macbeth Shakespeare wrote that sleep ...knits up the raveled sleep of care.
在莎翁名剧《麦克白》中，莎士比亚曾这样评价睡眠:把忧虑的乱丝编织起来。
So why would anyone want to be purposely reminded of a fearful memory while sleeping?
那么为什么有人还想在睡觉的过程中刻意回忆起一段可怕的记忆呢？
Strange as it may seem,
听起来感觉很诡异，
recent research shows that reminders of a scary memory while snoozing may help treat phobias.
然而最近的研究表明在打瞌睡的时候梦到噩梦也许能有助于治疗恐惧症。
Scientists showed volunteers two faces while the volunteers received mild electric shocks.
科学家们给参与实验在被微电流刺激着的志愿者们展现两张人脸。
As they viewed a face, the subjects also smelled a specific odor, like clove, mint or lemon.
在看到一张脸的时候，志愿者还能闻到如丁香、薄荷或者柠檬等特别的气味。
So both the face and the odor were associated with the unpleasant experience of being shocked.
所以，人脸和气味都同时与正在接受的电刺激这件不愉快的经历有了感觉意识上的联系。
Later, when subjects were in deep sleep they were exposed to one of the odors.
之后，当志愿者们进入深度睡眠，他们又会被其中一种气味所围绕。
When they woke up, they viewed images of the two faces.
醒来后，他们会再次观看那两张人脸图像。
And their fear reaction to the face associated with the smell was lower than when they saw the other face.
而他们对伴随气味而看到过的那张人脸的恐惧感明显低于看到另一张脸时产生的。
Fear was quantified via brain scans and sweat measurement.
因此得出结论恐惧感可以通过脑部扫描和汗液成分来量化分析。
The study is the journal Nature Neuroscience.
该研究已在《自然杂志的神经科学》上发表。
It's known that people can overcome phobias by exposure to the feared object or behavior while awake.
已知的人们克服恐惧症的有效方法是在清醒状态下利用他们恐惧物质或者行为对他们进行持续刺激。
This study marks the first time scientists have tried exposure—albeit through a conditioned response—during sleep to reduce fear.
这项研究是科学家们的第一次尝试—尽管是通过一种条件限制下的反映—也就是在睡觉的时候尝试消除恐惧感的刺激。
For phobic people, it could be a dream come true.
对恐惧症患者来讲，好像你的梦境变为现实。
