Study Skills...Can we learn in our sleep???

I recently thought of an idea. For the things I'd like to study I thought of an idea. I have ADD big time.

Anyway I thought of recording myself reading my study material out-loud on casette. (I have a tape player that can autumaticly switch over all night) I thought I would then play the tape over as I'm falling asleep.

*First I heard somewhere that we remember things we learn better bofore bed.

*Second I wonder if things can register in our SUBCONSCIOUS mind and can support what we learn. I'm not sure how the subconscious mind works, if our subconscious mind can hear things in our sleep, OR IF IT EVEN EXISTS.

I have some old self-help tapes that claim to speak affirmations to the SUBCONSCIOUS MIND for example. HOWEVER these types of Psychologists tend to be very new-agey and I'm not sure if any of it is grounded in solid science at all. If it is and we can learn how to quit smoking or whatever in our sleep...can we learn History or Psychology too in our sleep???

 

BTW I wonder if there are ways one can record their voice on a CD...?

 

I did this years ago (with an 8-track!) and it didn't seem to do me any good, but if you want to record your voice on a CD it's pretty simple if you have a CD-burner on your computer.

1) Plug a microphone into the appropriate jack in your soundcard. Record your voice using any sort of recording program (Windows Sound Recorder will work). Use a sound format of 44.1kHz and 16 bit stereo. For each chapter/segment use a separate WAV file.

2a) Assuming you're happy, drag and drop these files (or load them) into the burner program that came with your CD burner. Each recording will become a separate track.

or

2b) If you have an iPod or other sort of device, drag and drop the files into the device.

Cheers,
Mark

 

Listening to a voice recording while you sleep is not going to induce more or greater cognitive thinking during your waking hours. On the contrary, there is a possibility that your audio-taped voice message might interfere with your ability to get a sound nights sleep and, consequently, your cognitive functions might be diminished during your waking hours. Getting a good nights rest is an important element of critical thinking.

 

It is not an uncommon practice.

It depends on the person using it and the topic - it worked well with me in the 1960's [8 inch reel to reel at 1 7/8 speed] with my law subjects and the recall was quite frightening. I used it with very summarised dot point notes as the only supporting medium.

I was assessed by an educational psychologist and it was his recommendation. I have recommended it and the results are good.

Sorry to disagree ...

 

If you're reading the study material out loud, you are already studying... But not very efficiently.

 

If you want to read more about this, a Google search on "learning during sleep" produces plenty of articles both pro and con.

One way for you to find out if this works for you is to test it, here's a simple way you might try:

1. Have someone else make a recording of new material, play that recording while you sleep. (Having someone else make the recording eliminates the possibility that your actual learning took place while making the recording rather than just hearing it in your sleep.) If you really want to be pure about testing what you can learn during sleep then don't play it until after you are already asleep, because if you hear it as you're falling asleep then all you're really testing is how much heard material you can remember right before sleep rather than during actual sleep. You can do this either by using some kind of delay mechanism or by simply having someone else in the house hit "play" after you are asleep.

2. Have the person who made the recording also make up a test based on the information in the recording. Of course, have them keep the test themselves. No peeking for you!

3. After hearing the tape a few times while actually sleeping, take the test made up by someone else in step 2. How'd you do on the test?

Regardless of how you do on the test, I wouldn't suggest using recordings-heard-while-sleeping as your only study method.

Kit

 

Cooledit is the best in this regard... you even have noise reduction based on statistical algorithms, so the recording appears as if it were in a studio. Best of all, you only need a PC for this, and a decent soundcard (SB-live would do fine). Perfect if you wish to create audio lectures and make it look professional.

If anyone needs help with creating audio lectures of any knid, let me know and I'll help out...

I used cooledit for recording some of my musical instrument samples as well as my voice for songs, and it worked like a charm!!

Guitarmark, have you composed/produced your own music too?

 

That's purely anecdotal and I've never read of any empirical evidence to give veracity to such a belief.

 

a professonal answer

OK here's some insight. I went to my therapist yesterday and I asked him about this. Now this guy is experienced for years, he is NOT new agey, and is for the most part a practical kinda guy. (not a quack)

He said he thinks it would be a GREAT idea, and does believe in the power of the subconscious mind HOWEVER he thinks it would be best combined with conventional studying. He said THAT reading it outloud is good in and of itself. Playing it over both awake, falling asleep and during sleep will help me learn the material using MORE THEN ONE NEURO-PATHWAY.

 

It worked for me

I've used this as PART of my study regime (real estate, medical, military exams, etc) with great results. I don't think it is sufficient to simply listen to a looping tape during sleep. When supported with flash cards, quality study time, it helped immensely.

A great book which addresses higher learning is Superlearning 2000. Paul Scheele and Photoreading/Natural Brillance has also done a lot of research on these concepts. They break down a lot of the accelerated learning theories, and research relating to this.

A point I would agree with is to be careful to NOT interrupt your normal sleep cycle. An 8 track tape player would serious CLICK when it switched from one track to the next. Get a DVD player that is quiet and loops, along with a pillow speaker.

 

Nothing to hinder learning like a closed mind

Now you have some thing to go by ...

 

And the world is flat too, right? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

 

Anyone ever hear of Neuro-Linguistic programing? It was kind of a pop-psychology fad back in the 80's I think. New Age guru Tony Robbins was at the forefront of promoting it.

ANYWAY I asked Jeeves www.ask.com and foung a website about sleep-learning. This is a sponsored commercial site and is probably biased. (They have tapes to do everything from learn a new language to boost your self-esteem to other things all in your sleep.) Biased or not- it is still evidence that I was hardly the first to think of this idea.

I've had ADD and Aspergers' Syndrome (High Functioning Autism) all my life and have done research before on alternative ways of learning and studying.

Gee maybe I should try the foreign language ones and then channel the spirits of my deceased grandparents and they can help me to learn Italian...JK

All I know is I need to pass 10 standardized exams to graduate and once I get that piece of paper it's not going to matter if I studied on the roof of my house naked! ANYTHING'S WORTH A TRY...

 

In you world, and from your viewpoint, I don't doubt that.

 

Yes anything is worth a try.

I read globally, then once in detail underlining as I go and read the underlined parts into a tape. I also make dot point summaries/cards, and I keep these with me at all times.

A lot of people do mammoth amounts of writing/rewriting of notes and I don't think it helps having observed habits and results of about 300 students at a time over 14 years in a variety of enviornments. I also recommend a lot of exam practice - timing and content both equally as critical as each other. The 2 things you need to achieve is assimilation and recall, and ANYTHING that helps is worth following.

It works for me in Accounting, Law, Engineering and Education.

Good luck.

 

I know nothing about Psychology but I can help you with my personal experiences.

I sleep listening to audiobooks really often. It helps me a little because I can remember with ease what I hear just before going to bed or, even more, just after waking up (its really easy to fix information at that time).

But, until now, I can recall no information at all that I got while I was sleeping. The tapes are good to listening while driving, walking or shopping for groceries, but not as effective as "real" study.

When I sleep heraing music, I usually have the music in my head when I wake up. But this does not seem to happen with study subjects.

My advice would be to try it and see if you get any results. At worse, you can use a tape to gets ome extra knowledge points while going to work or any other time you can spare to hear your tapes.

 

I think reading aloud is really helpful in itself. It keeps you engaged in the material and hearing your voice reinforces what you read.

It has been shown that studying right *before* falling asleep is effective, but I think listening to myself read a textbook would knock me out pretty fast. Can you read aloud in bed?

 

I listened to a looping meditation CD in my sleep, A few of the words I actually haard in my dream. I had a drean that I was meditation to the exact voice and words- but the fream was very brief.