Can the Brain Take In New Information when Asleep?

[mikesmith1287]

Hello everyone. I have become very interested in how the brain works recently. I know that in sleep, your brain is basically going through all of the information that it has obtained, and sorts through it (decides what is/is not important, and strengthens/weakens those connections).

But,

Can you take in new information when asleep, or is your brain just sorting through what it already knows?

[DaveC426913]

It most certainly can. Have you never had sights, sounds, smells or vibrations from reality intrude on your dreams?

[DavidSnider]

Yes, but it's almost like it goes right through you.

If you fall asleep listening to a book on tape you will not remember any of it when you wake up. You might however have a weird dream related to something in the book.

[Borek]

If you fall asleep listening to a book on tape your ears will hurt when you wake up.

I remember reading about psychological experiments done about learning while sleeping. They have not produced new teaching methods, so obviously our brains are not wired to learn when asleep, although I recall some information about data being sorted and stored during night. But that was data acquired during a day.

[mikesmith1287]

Cool. Thanks for the reply guys!

David, but if you might have a weird dream about the book you were listening to, then doesn't that mean that you are sort of learning something new?

I see that we are not wired for learning when we are sleeping, but maybe we can still learn, but just very inefficiently?