科学家发现，那些睡觉时梦境连连的人们，醒来时记忆力和关联事物的能力都会显著增强。

　　But recharging with a shallow nap offers no such mental boost, the research suggests.

　　但同时该研究显示，如果仅仅是打个小盹，不会对脑力产生如此奇效。

　　The results of the study add to the growing body of evidence that Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep is crucial to the brain’s ability to lay down and consolidate memories.

此前不断有证据表明，快速眼动睡眠对大脑巩固记忆的能力至关重要，而这一研究结果再次印证了该说法。

An average night’s repose includes four or five spells of REM sleep, but these bursts tend to be lengthier towards the end of the night.

　　夜间睡眠通常包括四到五个周期的快速眼动睡眠，但直到天亮之前，快速眼动睡眠间隔周期呈逐渐延长的趋势。

This means that adults who get less than the recommended seven to eight hours a night – and therefore insufficient REM sleep – may be damaging their mind’s ability to form strong memories.

　　这意味着，睡眠时间不足7-8小时的成年人形成牢固记忆的能力受到严重影响，因为他们无法保障充分的快速眼动睡眠时间。

　　Although REM sleep is not classified as a type of deep sleep, it is only reached after the brain has passed through deep sleep stages.

　　尽管快速眼动睡眠并不属于深度睡眠的范畴，但只有在经过深度睡眠后，大脑才能进入快速眼动睡眠状态。

　　For the most recent study, participants were shown groups of three words – such as “cookie”, “heart” and “sixteen” – and asked to find another word that can be associated with all three words.

在最新研究中，研究人员向参与者展示三个单词——譬如“cookie（曲奇）”、“heart（爱心）”以及“sixteen(16)”，同时他们需要找到与这三个词语相关的一个词。

　　In this example, the answer would have been "sweet”.

　　在这个例子中，正确答案应该是“sweet（甜蜜）”这个词。

　　Participants were tested once in the morning and then given the same task again in the afternoon. In between, some were allowed a nap with REM sleep, some a nap without REM sleep, while the others had a quiet rest period.

　　参与者在早上和下午各进行了同样的测试。而在两次测试的中间，一些人进行了短暂的快速眼动睡眠；一些人虽然小睡但并未进入快速眼动睡眠状态；还有一部分人只是安静地休息了一会儿。

　The quiet rest and non-REM sleep groups showed no improvement in their test results, but the REM sleep group improved on their morning performance by an average of almost 40 per cent.

　　对于分别进行简单休息和无快速眼动睡眠小憩的两组参与者，他们实验结果并没有任何进步；而进入快速眼动睡眠的一组测试者，他们早上的测试成绩提高了近40%。

　　Dr Sara Mednick, a sleep researcher at the University of California in San Diego who led the study, believes that the formation of connections between previously unassociated information in the brain – which leads to creative problem-solving – is encouraged by neurological changes which occur during REM sleep.

　　该研究负责人，加州大学圣地亚哥分校睡眠研究员萨拉·梅德尼克认为，大脑把之前储存的信息联系在一起，并最终形成创造性的解决问题的方案，这整个过程的催化剂便是快速眼动睡眠中发生的神经变化。

　　Scientists have been working on connections between sleep, dreams and brain activity since the REM state was first identified in 1953 by US researchers.

　　自1953年美国研究人员首次确认快速眼动睡眠状态以来，科学家一直致力于研究睡眠、梦境以及大脑活动三者之间的联系。

They found that people woken while their closed eyes made jerking movements recalled much more colourful and elaborate dreams than people woken during other stages of sleep.

　　他们发现相对那些从其它睡眠状态中醒来的人，从快速眼动睡眠状态中醒来的人更善于记住那些丰富多彩的梦境。

　　It is now believed that sleep acts as a sort of mental filing system, enabling the brain to sort relevant information that needs to be retained from useless information which can be discarded. This process may take place as memories are shifted from one part of the brain to others.

　　现在人们坚信，睡眠过程就像是一种记忆的归档系统。随着储存的记忆在大脑中进行位置转移，大脑从而对相关信息进行区分——摒弃无用信息，保留有用信息。