History Main / SleepLearning

* ''GarfieldAndFriends'' show 58 has Jon Arbuckle preparing for a pitch to a publisher (his little-seen job is as a cartoonist). The publisher doesn't like Jon's nail-biting habit, so Jon tries using a sleep-learning record to cure himself. Garfield and Odie destroy the record by accident and replace it with cartoon sound effects, a Spanish-language tutoring record, and a "Hits of the 1950s" collection. At the meeting, all Jon can produce is "Hola, Paco, ¿Qué tal?", doo-wop music, and machine-gun noises. As it turns out, the publisher is a Mexican immigrant, named Paco, who likes doo-wop, and the sound effects match Jon's submission very well. Unfortunately, he still hasn't cured his nail-biting habit, and Jon doesn't get published.
* ''TheSimpsons'': Homer orders a "weight loss" tape to help curb his overeating, but since they're all out, they send him a "vocabulary builder" tape. He spends much of the episode consuming vast amounts of food while talking about it in [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness very long words]]. His vocabulary becomes even ''worse'' than usual after he throws away the tapes for failing to help him lose weight.

* In ''{{Phenomenon}}'', George gave his friend Nate an audiotape of Portuguese phrases like "What are your skills?" and "When can you start?" so he could hire Ella, a Portuguese woman as a maid. [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels George secretly slipped in phrases like "You have beautiful eyes"]], in order to play matchmaker between the two. By the end of the movie Nate and Ella are expecting their first child.

* A similar joke was used is a ''FoxTrot'' strip when Jason mentioned Peter used the same method. Unfortunately, the day the strip took place, Peter had tests for ''three'' different subjects, leaving his neck horribly twisted in the morning.

* An experiment in unconscious learning in ''ThePrisoner'' was a cover for rather more unwholesome experimentation. Of course, in ''ThePrisoner'' they can see your dreams through the lamp over your bed.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Jean Paul Valley's father used SleepLearning learning to make him into {{Azrael}}, a {{badass}} angel of vengeance. He was a bookish computer geek, but when triggered, could go up against Batman, whom he briefly [[AntiHeroSubstitute replaced]]. Not bad for listening to a tape in your sleep.

-->''Haven't you learned ''anything'' in bed?''
--->--'''Dean Venture''', ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''

* ''SumomoMoMomoMo'' has Koushi listening to a sleep tape to help him study for his law class. Momoko uses this opportunity to try to suggest romantic things for him to say instead. Koushi wakes up and catches her. The love learning does stick, though, as he ends up repeating them later on...when Iroha sneaks into his bed.

* In 70s SuperRobot anime ''{{Zambot3}}'', this is how Kappei, Uchuta and Keiko were taught to pilot the eponymous robot.

* ''TheSimpsons'': Homer orders a "weight loss" tape to help curb his overeating, but since they're all out, they send him a "vocabulary builder" tape. He spends much of the episode consuming vast amounts of food while talking about it in [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness very long words]].

* The ''WaysideSchool'' books has one student, a HeavySleeper, never being disturbed by the others on Ms. Jewell's insistence that she's sleep-learning. At least one tie-in book hints this may be right.

* ''TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOftheNewWorld'': Apparently, this is one of Tenebrae's seven hidden talents. Neither Emil nor Marta find it useful, however.

* ''TalesOfSymphoniaDawnoftheNewWorld'': Apparently, this is one of Tenebrae's seven hidden talents. Neither Emil nor Marta find it useful, however.

* ''TalesofSymphoniaDawnoftheNewWorld'': Apparently, this is one of Tenebrae's seven hidden talents. Neither Emil nor Marta find it useful, however.

* In KyouKaraMaou Conrad is able to learn Japanese via sleep learning.

Compare HypnoFool. Not to be confused with AsleepInClass, although it's conceivable that an extremely lucky individual would combine the two tropes, by sleeping through class and absorbing the knowledge nevertheless. Or that an extremely [[HighSchoolHustler gutsy]] individual would try to use it as an excuse.

!!Examples

* Randy Disher did this in the ending of the Monk episode "Mr. Monk Visits A Farm" regarding a case file of a crime he reviewed. Justified, as he initially thought it was the result of his sleeping that he solved the cause of the murder of his uncle (Monk, while Disher was asleep, fed the answer through his ear without his knowledge).
* In an early episode of RedDwarf, Rimmer has attempted to use the self-hyponsis tapes "Learn Esperanto While You Sleep" and "Learn Quantum Theory While You Sleep". The only results we're told of are that neither he nor his bunkmate got any sleep.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', advertisements are inserted into everyone's dreams ''...just like this liquid gets into this egg,'' (injecting a liquid into an egg, which then explodes).
** "Although in reality it's not liquid, but gamma radiation"

* This is how [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worry_doll Worry Dolls]] work. You tell them your worries before you go to bed and they do the worrying for you.

Compare HypnoFool. Not to be confused with AsleepInClass, although it's conceivable that an extremely lucky individual would combine the two tropes, by sleeping through class and absorbing the knowledge nevertheless.

* An ''AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' special used the trope when Alvin was trying to learn how to act romantic before a Valentine's dance. It's shown working...as Alvin dubs himself "Captain Chipmunk".

-->''"Haven't you learned ''anything'' in bed?"''
--> [[WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers Dean Venture]]

* A research option in ''VideoGame/{{Outpost 2}}''. Reported to be ineffective, but it does give a trivial boost to the training time (or minor if playing as Eden).

* In an episode of ''RadioActive'', George is caught sleeping in class, and explains that he is actually studying his book via osmosis. While it does work, it turns out he was sleeping on the wrong book.

* A research option in {{Outpost 2}}. Reported to be ineffective, but it does give a trivial boost to the training time (or minor if playing as Eden).

* This is how kids were taught on SilverAge [[{{Superman}} Krypton]]. Maybe it works better on the Kryptonian mind.

* ''{{Batman}}'': Jean Paul Valley's father used SleepLearning learning to make him into {{Azrael}}, a {{badass}} angel of vengeance. He was a bookish computer geek, but when triggered, could go up against Batman, whom he briefly [[AntiHeroSubstitute replaced]]. Not bad for listening to a tape in your sleep.