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+--- Thread: How memory research can help you learn new languages (/thread-2455.html)
How memory research can help you learn new languages - C C - Jun 3, 2016
https://aeon.co/ideas/how-memory-research-can-help-you-learn-a-new-language
EXCERPT: [...] Of particular interest for language-learning, Paller’s lab has found that memory reactivation during slow-wave sleep can be manipulated to improve specific memories. For example, they found that if you pair a sound with a picture while awake, and then play the sound during slow-wave sleep, this improves later recall of that picture – although the effect depends on how well you had learned the pairing the first time. Paller’s lab has found that the effect holds regardless of the type of information cued: everything from playing a melody to unlearning stereotype associations all benefit from reactivation during sleep. The most obvious application for learning a foreign language would be in retaining new vocabulary. Many people already learn foreign-language vocabulary by pairing it with a translation in their native language. This type of pairing is very similar to what Paller’s lab has already done, and so it is likely that extending this to second-language learning would be successful....