It is one thing to learn a new piece of information， such as a new phone number or a new word， but quite another to get your brain to file it away so it is available when you need it.

學(xué)習(xí)新知識(shí)——比如記住一個(gè)電話號(hào)碼或者一個(gè)新單詞——是一回事，而將它們存進(jìn)大腦并能在需要時(shí)使用就完全是另外一回事了。

A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience by researchers at the University of York and Harvard Medical School suggests that sleep may help to do both. The scientists found that sleep helps people to remember a newly learned word and incorporate new vocabulary into their “mental lexicon”.

英國(guó)約克大學(xué)和美國(guó)哈佛醫(yī)學(xué)院聯(lián)合在《神經(jīng)科學(xué)雜志》發(fā)的研究論文稱，睡眠能夠同時(shí)幫助學(xué)習(xí)和記憶。科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，睡眠可以幫助人們記住新學(xué)的單詞，并將其納入“心理詞匯”。

During the study， researchers taught volunteers new words in the evening， followed by an immediate test. The volunteers slept overnight in the laboratory while their brain activity was recorded by researchers using an electroencephalogram. A test the following morning revealed that they could remember more words than they did immediately after learning them， and they could recognize them faster demonstrating that sleep had strengthened the new memories.

在研究中，研究人員在晚上教會(huì)志愿者新單詞，隨后立即對(duì)志愿者進(jìn)行測(cè)試。然后志愿者整晚都在實(shí)驗(yàn)室睡覺(jué)，研究人員同時(shí)監(jiān)測(cè)他們的腦電波以觀察他們的大腦活躍度。次日早晨的測(cè)試結(jié)果證明，志愿者睡后記住的單詞比剛學(xué)完記住的單詞還要多，并且能很快回想起新學(xué)的單詞，這表明睡眠有助于加強(qiáng)新記憶。

This did not occur in a control group of volunteers who were trained in the morning and re-tested in the evening， with no sleep in between. An examination of the sleep volunteers brainwaves showed that deep sleep （slow-wave sleep） rather than light sleep helped in strengthening the new memories.

而另一組受控志愿者在早上學(xué)習(xí)，晚上測(cè)試，中間不睡覺(jué)，研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)這種學(xué)習(xí)效果并沒(méi)有前文所說(shuō)的好成效。而通過(guò)對(duì)睡眠人員的腦電波進(jìn)行監(jiān)測(cè)后發(fā)現(xiàn)，相較于睡眠淺的志愿者，睡眠較深的志愿者的新增記憶得到了更有效的鞏固。

These results highlight the importance of sleep and they underlie brain processes for expanding vocabulary. The researcher， said， “New memories are only really useful if you can connect them to information you already know.” he said their study identifies the brain activity during sleep that organizes new memories and makes those vital connections with existing knowledge.

這些研究結(jié)果突出了睡眠的重要性，并解釋了擴(kuò)充詞匯量的腦部機(jī)制。研究人員稱：“如果你能將新增記憶和自己已有的知識(shí)儲(chǔ)備聯(lián)系起來(lái)，新增記憶才算真正有用?！彼€說(shuō)他們的研究證實(shí)了人們?cè)谒X(jué)時(shí)大腦會(huì)組織新記憶并將其與已有知識(shí)聯(lián)系起來(lái)。

Word Study

incorporate /?n'k??rp?re?t/ v. 包含;吸收;使并入

The new car design incorporates all the latest safety features.

reveal /r?'vi?l/ v. 揭示;顯示;透露

It was revealed that important evidence had been suppressed.

highlight /'ha?la?t/ v. 強(qiáng)調(diào);突出;使醒目

vital /'va?tl/ adj. 必要的;至關(guān)重要的;充滿活力的