Sleeping Brains Understand Words

By Neuroskeptic | October 3, 2014 3:01 pm

Have you ever heard someone describe a task as bein so easy that they could do it in
their sleep! " #ascinatin ne$ study #rom a team o# %rench neuroscientists sho$s that
this statement may be &itera&&y true, #ar more o#ten than you'd think: Inducing Task-
Relevant Responses to Speech in the Sleeping Brain
(id )ouider and co&&eaues' e&eant e*periment $ent as #o&&o$s+ ,o&unteers $ere asked
to per#orm a $ord cateori-ation task: spoken $ords $ere p&ayed to them and they had
to press a button $ith their &e#t hand .say/ i# the $ord $as a kind o# anima&, or press a
button $ith their riht hand i# it $as an ob0ect+
(o #ar, so simp&e 1 but the kicker $as that participants $ere a&&o$ed to #a&& as&eep
durin the task+ 2he e*periment took p&ace in a 3uiet, dark room to he&p them nod o##+
Once a vo&unteer $as sound&y as&eep, the task continued 1 more anima& and ob0ect
$ords $ere p&ayed to them $hi&e they s&ept+
2he key 3uestion $as: did the vo&unteers' brains continue to per#orm the task $hi&e they
$ere as&eep! 2his miht seem &ike a hard hypothesis to test 1 ho$ can a brain 4per#orm'
a button pressin task, $ithout pressin any buttons, and ho$ $ou&d $e kno$ even i#
it! 5e&&, the participants $ere $ired up to an 667 system to record brain e&ectrica&
activity, be#ore the e*periment bean+ Based on the 667 data #rom the a$ake phase o#
the e*periment, )ouider et a& $ere ab&e to record the di##erent neura& activations that
accompanied pressin a button $ith either the &e#t or the riht hand+ .2hese activations
happen on opposite sides o# the brain, #ittin&y+/
2he authors then e*amined $hether these same 4button pressin' patterns occurred in
response to the stimu&i presented during sleep - and ama-in&y, they did, in most cases+
2he tru&y remarkab&e resu&t $as that the s&eepin brains 4produced' the correct
responses to the stimu&i+ 8# an anima& $ord $as p&ayed, the brain's activity $as usua&&y
consistent $ith it makin a .say/ &e#t hand button press+
(o this is pretty ama-in and suests that the brain can per#orm a hih9&eve& &anuae
task, invo&vin understandin the meanin o# $ords, $hi&e as&eep+ 2here are some
3uestions, o# course+ "s )ouider et a& say:
%irst, one miht 3uestion $hether participants in our study $ere tru&y as&eep: in order
to be #u&&y con#ident that the tria&s that $e inc&uded in our ana&ysis enuine&y re#&ect a
state o# s&eep, microarousa&s and arousa&s .associated $ith button presses or not/ $ere
detected and tria&s in the direct vicinity o# these events $ere discarded+
%ina&&y, this paper made me think o# the ;hinese <oom 1 a phi&osophica& thouht9
e*periment in $hich a man $ith an e&aborate instruction book is ab&e to respond, in
;hinese, to 3uestions posed in ;hinese, even thouh he doesn't kno$ the &anuae and
has no .conscious/ understandin o# $hat he's sayin+ 8s a s&eepin brain rather &ike that
man! " s&eepin brain has no conscious e*perience o# the outside $or&d, so #ar as $e
kno$+ =et someho$ it kno$s ho$ to respond to $ords:>
)ouider (, "ndri&&on 2, Barbosa ?(, 7oupi& ?, @ Bekinschtein 2" .2014/+
8nducin task9re&evant responses to speech in the s&eepin brain+ Current Biology, 24
.1A/, 220A914 BC8D: 2E2200EE