To dream, perchance to learn
Posted 4/23/2010
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It is by now well established that sleep can be an important tool to enhance memory and learning skills. And now, a new study sheds light on the role that dreams play in this important process.
Led by scientists at BIDMC, the findings suggest that dreams may be the sleeping brain's way of telling us that it is hard at work on the process of memory consolidation, integrating our recent experiences to help us with performance-related tasks in the short run and, in the long run, translating this material into information that will have widespread application to our lives.
The study is reported in the April 22 On-line issue of Current Biology. It's also generated stories on The New York Times Well blog, Time Magazine's Wellness blog and on CNN.com.
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