The Logic of Sleep Learning (Part 4)

Once reception has been definitely established, the student may start using the Transitional Sleep Period, which usually begins three hours and forty minutes after falling asleep. This is the transition between the third and fourth (the deepest) stage of sleep, and material received by the subconscious during this transitional period is remembered most rapidly of all. The explanation for this is not known.

Specialists in sleep-learning are unable to state with certainty how long it will take to absorb a message in sleep-study. They do know that for most people the number of impressions (repetitions) necessary to memorize material during sleep is most certainly a great deal less than the number needed while awake.

The experiments of Dr. Wilder Penfield of the Montreal Neurological Institute established that the natural tape recorders in our heads require only one impression for retention—possibly lifelong. Dr. Penfield discovered this during surgery on patients under local anaesthesia. He stimulated certain brain cells with gentle electric current and the patients, who were conscious, reported perfect playbacks of conversations, songs, and other experiences as far back as childhood. This is considered by sleep-learning researchers to be potentially meaningful in yielding explanations of reports that students awakened between two and five o'clock in the morning received an entirely different message from the one they had put on tape.

Despite the knowledge that one impression is sufficient to register permanently on our brain, repetition appears to be necessary to memorize material. The reason for this is not yet known. It is thought that there may be some relationship between the time the impression is made and the ability to recall it when awake. Sleep-learning psychologists hope to discover a means of triggering off recall of material, possibly an associa-tional symbol which will stimulate the recall much as the electric current did in Dr. Penfield's experiments. Meanwhile, sleep-memorization is based on repetition and free-association.

Certain things have been found to be helpful in aiding retention of material. Motivation is important, as, for instance, thinking of the reward that will be enjoyed as a result of learning. Material that is understood is retained better than material learned by rote alone; repetition alone will affect memorization, but retention for any length of time requires the use of intelligence. Writing the material after learning it tends to shorten the time necessary for permanent learning, and repetition a few times after the material is learned aids in retention. New forms of presentation are no more effective than repetition of identical material; the latter is recommended to refresh the memory.

The order of presentation seems to be important: the beginning and end of a lengthy sleep-study period are often better remembered than the middle parts, which seems an emphasis that the student should not attempt absorbing too much material in one night's sleep-study.

In learning a language it appears more effective to place the English word ahead of the foreign word. New, challenging, interesting material is easier to retain than dull, static, or uninteresting data. Frequently something that seems unavailable for recall (like every one of 1000 new words), will be recognized and understood when the student is confronted with the necessity for recognition.