History Main / SleepLearning

[[folder: Anime]]

* In ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'' Conrad is able to learn Japanese via sleep learning.

* '''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration''': After the SRX team is given manuals for their R Series units, Ryusei asks Aya if there is a sleep-learning machine for use, to which she states that if such methods worked, they would've been used on him long ago.

* As there is no UniversalTranslator in ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'', Captain Janeway has Nee'Lix teach them a CommonTongue which is put down on hypno-educator tapes for the crew. [[MythologyGag It gives Tom Paris a headache.]]

* As there is no UniversalTranslator in ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager'', Captain Janeway has Nee'Lix teach them a CommonTongue which is put down on hypnopedia tapes for the crew. [[MythologyGag It gives Tom Paris a headache.]]

* As there is no UniversalTranslator in ''Series/RocketshipVoyager'', Captain Janeway has Nee'Lix teach them a CommonTongue which is put down on hypnopedia tapes for the crew. [[MythologyGag It gives Tom Paris a headache.]]

* This technique is the focus of research by the titular hero of the movie ''The Misadventures of Merlin Jones'' and its sequel ''The Monkey's Uncle''. Since these are comedy movies by Disney, his results are.. mixed.

-> "Haven't you learned ''anything'' in bed?"

* '''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration''': After the SRX team is given manuals for their R Series units, Ryusei invokes this trope to Aya, which she defies in return, stating that if such a method existed, it would've been used on him long ago.

* ''WesternAnimation/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.

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', "The Big Cheese": Dexter tries to cram for a French test at school, but his recording skips, and when he wakes up in the morning all he is able to say is "omelette du fromage". The only question on the test, luckily, is to translate the phrase "cheese omelette[[labelnote:*]]The proper translation would actually be "omelette ''au'' fromage". "Omelette du fromage" would translate closer to [[GratuitousFrench "cheese's omelette"]].[[/labelnote]]". In fact, "omelette du fromage" is the phrase needed for every situation Dex faces for the rest of the cartoon, including solving the Mid-East crisis. His only obstacle? The password needed to enter the lab is "Franchise/StarWars", so the lab's voice-activated vault door bars his re-entry.

* Quite possibly twisted before it ever got off the ground, in Aldous Huxley's novel ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'', where people are made to listen to tapes while sleeping during childhood. Huxley has his fictional conditioning experts explain that hypnopaedia is ''useless'' for teaching (one shows a boy who memorized a long lecture on the Nile River without actually ''learning'' anything from it, he could repeat the entire passage, but when asked for a specific piece of information from it, he broke down crying); the tapes, therefore, are used only for behavior modification -- they contain platitudes intended to subtly reinforce the values of World State society.

* ''Literature/SmallGods'' includes an anecdote about a king in the Discworld who tried to do this and asked a philosopher if he could find an easy way for the King to learn things. The philosopher replies there is no easy way to knowledge, to which the King says he bloody well better find a way or else. Cue slaves whispering in his ear as he sleeps. Unfortunately the third one stuck a dagger in it but, "I don't believe there was anything wrong with the idea in principle."

* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', "The Big Cheese": Dexter tries to cram for a French test at school, but his recording skips, and when he wakes up in the morning all he is able to say is "omelette du fromage". The only question on the test, luckily, is to translate the phrase "cheese omelette". In fact, "omelette du fromage" is the phrase needed for every situation Dex faces for the rest of the cartoon, including solving the Mid-East crisis. His only obstacle? The password needed to enter the lab is "Franchise/StarWars", so the lab's voice-activated vault door bars his re-entry.
** Ironically, the correct way of referring to a cheese omelette in French would probably be omelette ''au'' fromage. "Omelette du fromage" [[YouNoTakeCandle would translate to "cheese's omelette"]].

->''"Haven't you learned ''anything'' in bed?"''

* This trope has come up various times in Franchise/ArchieComics. In one story, [[DumbMuscle Moose]] complains that he tried it and still failed his test. Archie then shows that Moose had his tape playing ''[[EpicFail backwards!]]''

** This trope also led to a Dream Arc regarding the Odyssey when Peter tried listening to the audiobook the night before the test, and somehow ended up dragging Jason into the dream. The ending of the dream has him discovering that Quincy was playing the role of Penelope, a discovery that was strongly implied to have resulted in him waking up earlier than usual out of disgust.

* Deconstructed in the ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode, "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS1E3DrivingMissHazyNoGutsNoGlori Driving Miss Hazy]]". Lori intentionally gets Leni to fail her driving test by slipping headphones onto her that teach bad driving instructions while she slept.

* ''Discworld/SmallGods'' includes an anecdote about a king in the Discworld who tried to do this and asked a philosopher if he could find an easy way for the King to learn things. The philosopher replies there is no easy way to knowledge, to which the King says he bloody well better find a way or else. Cue slaves whispering in his ear as he sleeps. Unfortunately the third one stuck a dagger in it but, "I don't believe there was anything wrong with the idea in principle."

* In an early episode of ''Series/RedDwarf'', Rimmer has attempted to use the self-hyponsis tapes "Learn UsefulNotes/{{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.

* The CitiesInFlight series makes it clear that this only handy for InfoDump (which is useful for the protagonist how has never lived in a City before) but the hard thing is applying the information that you have been given. The process itself is psychologically trying and not everyone is capable of it.

* In an early episode of ''Series/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.