Napping against racism According to researchers, sleep can reduce prejudice

Can people with racist or sexist prejudices become "do-gooders" in their sleep? According to a US study, certain stereotypes can at least be reduced if one completes a special training and the subconscious mind is specifically addressed during sleep.

Study participants were first tested for their sexist and racist benefits
Researchers have already found that certain memories can be reactivated and strengthened during sleep. Among other things, a learning unit was linked to a sound or smell, and this stimulus was fed back to the test persons during sleep. Later, the learned could be better accessed. Similar studies were conducted for facts and emotions, among others.

Xiaoqing Hu from Northwestern University in Evanston and his team wanted to find out if this way even existing thought patterns can be changed. They focused on racist and sexist prejudices. For their study, the researchers selected 40 white women and men, who first completed a test that showed how inclined the subject to certain sexist and racist prejudices. Subsequently, each study participant went through a special training. In doing so, a portrait of a person should be assigned to a term that was contrary to their prejudice. For example, the face of a dark-skinned man should be associated with the term "sunshine" or a woman's face "mathematics". If the subjects correctly assigned the image and the term, a certain tone sounded, depending on whether it was about racism or sexism.

"The common expectation is that a short, one-time intervention is not strong enough to have a lasting impact," Hu explains to the British "Dailymail". "It might be better to do repeated sessions and extensive training. Nevertheless, our results show how learning - including this type of learning - is dependent on sleep. "

In sleep, sexist and racist benefits were reduced
In the next step, the participants made a 90-minute nap. During the deep sleep phase, the researchers played the subjects before the racism or the sexism sound before. Subsequently, Hu and his team again questioned the prejudices of the subjects. As it turned out, the stereotypes were significantly lessened, their associated sound played during sleep. Ofenbar had changed the many years of thinking through the training. The change was still measurable one week after the experiment.

"Hu and his colleagues show the remarkable potential of targeted memory reactivation during sleep when it comes to changing deeply rooted habits," quotes the news agency "dpa" the sleep researcher Jan Born from the University of Tübingen. However, Born also emphasizes that there is still much uncertainty about the neurophysiological and psychological mechanisms of reactivation. For example, it is still unclear what influence the learning environment has.

In sleep, man has no willful consciousness
According to the sleep researcher, there is a risk that previously forgotten stereotypes will be regained, possibly even more pronounced. "Sleep is a state in which an individual is without conscious awareness and thus unprotected against suggestions," said Born. Therefore, ethical considerations should also be included in further research.

Hu and his team want to "refine the sleep recovery method so that in the future people with bad habits like smoking, selfish behavior or unhealthy eating habits, may be able to change their behavior through exercise." Their study results published the researchers in the journal "Science". (Ag)