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First uploaded to internet: Thursday, February 19, 2004

If you've got a difficult mental task to perform, don't feel guilty about first taking a nap. A recent study suggests that it might be the best way to prepare your brain. Sleep and learning -- coming up after this on Earth and Sky.

DB: This is Earth and Sky. Recent studies suggest that sleep is critical to memory tasks -- such as recalling a list of words.

JB: It's thought that sleep somehow consolidates your memories -- stabilizes and makes them stronger. Graduate student Kimberly Fenn and her colleagues at the University of Chicago wondered whether sleep also improves learning -- your skill at doing something you've just learned how to do. Last year, they began a study to find out. The participants in the study are asked to translate a list of synthesized words.

Kimberly Fenn: ... they will hear computerized synthetic speech that sounds something like this: "mmd" and that's the word "mud." It's a lot more difficult to understand than regular speech, natural speech...

DB: Most people do poorly at first. But Fenn teaches them how to interpret the sounds. Several hours later, they're tested to see how well they can interpret new words. Some participants are allowed to sleep in between and some aren't.

JB: The best performance came from participants who had a chance to sleep before they were tested again. But, Fenn says, like most research, the results raise new questions -- such as, How much sleep do you need to get its benefits? And what kind of sleep correlates with learning -- just a doze -- or is a deep sleep necessary?

DB: For today, that's our show. Our thanks to the National Science Foundation -- where discoveries begin. We're Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.

Author(s): Eleanor Imster

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