Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription or Fee Access

Sleep Fosters Insight Into Real-Life Problems

V. L. Perdomo, W. F. Hofman, L. M. Talamini

Abstract


Anecdotal reports recount of individuals obtaining insights during sleep. For instance, various acclaimed scientists have attributed some of their greatest insights to sleep-related mentation. To date, this phenomenon has not been systematically investigated. The current study explored the occurrence and characteristics of Sleep-Related Insights (SRIs) in a large population sample, using a questionnaire approach. We found that a large majority of participants (~80%) experienced SRIs at some point in their lives and about 40% obtained SRIs regularly. Most of these subjects could link SRIs to remembered sleep mentation. SRIs were reported to occur in both sleep and half-sleep states, and at any point of the sleep period. Furthermore, SRIs regarded emotional preoccupations about twice as often as theoretical problems. Finally, SRIs were not robustly related to subjective sleep-quality, but small positive correlations with insomnia and narcolepsy-like symptoms were observed. In conclusion, SRIs are much more common than might have been expected, manifest in several forms and appear to be part of normal, healthy sleep. Importantly, the strong link of SRIs with sleep mentation suggests they result from some form of higher-order information processing during sleep, rather than being (fully) secondary to general restorative effects of sleep. Finally, our findings show that a large portion of the sampled population is aware of sleep’s benefits for real life problem solving and experiences such benefits on a regular basis.

Keywords


Sleep; Insights; Problem-solving; Creativity; Memory; Dreams

Full Text:

PDF

References


Cappuccio FP, Cooper D, D'Elia L, Strazzullo P, Miller MA. Sleep duration predicts cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. European heart journal 2011;32:9.

Diekelmann S, Born J. The memory function of sleep. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2010;11:114-26.

Cox R, Hofman WF, de Boer M, Talamini LM. Local sleep spindle modulations in relation to specific memory cues. Neuroimage 2014;99:103-10.

Holleman E, Battaglia FP. Memory Consolidation, Replay, and Cortico-Hippocampal Interactions. Analysis and Modeling of Coordinated Multi-neuronal Activity: Springer, 2015:207-21.

Stickgold R, Hobson JA, Fosse R, Fosse M. Sleep, learning, and dreams: Off-line memory reprocessing. Science 2001;294:1052-7.

Talamini LM, Nieuwenhuis IL, Takashima A, Jensen O. Sleep directly following learning benefits consolidation of spatial associative memory. Learn Mem 2008;15:233-7.

Cox R, Hofman WF, Talamini LM. Involvement of spindles in memory consolidation is slow wave sleep-specific. Learn Mem 2012;19:264-7.

Cox R, Tijdens RR, Meeter MM, Sweegers CC, Talamini LM. Time, not sleep, unbinds contexts from item memory. PLoS One 2014;9:e88307.

Sweegers CC, Takashima A, Fernandez G, Talamini LM. Neural mechanisms supporting the extraction of general knowledge across episodic memories. Neuroimage 2014;87:138-46.

Gupta AS, van der Meer MA, Touretzky DS, Redish AD. Hippocampal replay is not a simple function of experience. Neuron 2010;65:695-705.

Wagner U, Gais S, Haider H, Verleger R, Born J. Sleep inspires insight. Nature 2004;427:352-5.

Cai DJ, Mednick SA, Harrison EM, Kanady JC, Mednick SC. REM, not incubation, improves creativity by priming associative networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2009;106:10130-4.

Beijamini F, Pereira SIR, Cini FA, Louzada FM. After being challenged by a video game problem, sleep increases the chance to solve it. PloS one 2014;9.

Medicine AAoS, Iber C. The AASM manual for the scoring of sleep and associated events: rules, terminology and technical specifications: American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 2007.

Koulack D, Goodenough DR. Dream recall and dream recall failure: An arousal-retrieval model. Psychological Bulletin 1976;83:975.

Ruby P, Blochet C, Eichenlaub J-B, Bertrand O, Morlet D, Bidet-Caulet A. Alpha reactivity to first names differs in subjects with high and low dream recall frequency. Frontiers in psychology 2013;4.

Eichenlaub J-B, Bertrand O, Morlet D, Ruby P. Brain reactivity differentiates subjects with high and low dream recall frequencies during both sleep and wakefulness. Cerebral Cortex 2014;24:1206-15.

Mazzarello P. What dreams may come? Nature 2000;408:523-.

Kaempffert W. popular history of American invention. 1924.

Strathern P. Mendeleyev's dream: the quest for the elements: Macmillan, 2001.

Green A. Sleeping on it. Sleep: multi-professional perspectives. London: Jessica Kingsley 2012:291-315.

Rothenberg A. Creative cognitive processes in Kekule's discovery of the structure of the benzene molecule. The American Journal of Psychology 1995:419-38.

Dalí S, Chevalier H. 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship: Courier Corporation, 1992.

Poe EA. Marginalia, Charlottesville. In: University Press of Virginia, 1981.

Stevenson RL. Memories and Portraits: Random Memories; Memoirs of Himself: Scribner, 1925.

Visser P, Hofman W, Kumar A, et al. Sleep and mood: measuring the sleep quality. In: Priest RG, Pletscher A, Ward J, eds. Sleep research. Lancaster, PA: MTP Press, 1979:135-45.

Spoormaker VI, Verbeek I, van den Bout J, Klip EC. Initial validation of the SLEEP-50 questionnaire. Behavioral sleep medicine 2005;3:227-46.

Qualtrics I. Qualtrics. com. In, 2013.

Tononi G, Cirelli C. Sleep function and synaptic homeostasis. Sleep Med Rev 2006;10:49-62.

Koenis MM, Romeijn N, Piantoni G, et al. Does sleep restore the topology of functional brain networks? Human brain mapping 2013;34:487-500.

Piantoni G, Cheung BL, Van Veen BD, et al. Disrupted directed connectivity along the cingulate cortex determines vigilance after sleep deprivation. Neuroimage 2013;79:213-22.

Saper CB, Fuller PM, Pedersen NP, Lu J, Scammell TE. Sleep state switching. Neuron 2010;68:1023-42.

Mignot E. Narcolepsy: pathophysiology and genetic predisposition. Principles and practice of sleep medicine. Philadelphia: WB Saunders 2010:938-56.

Green E, Green A. Beyond biofeedback: Delacorte, 1977.

Green E, Green A, Walters ED. Voluntary control of internal states: Psychological and physiological. Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine 1999;10:71-88.

Stenstrom P, Fox K, Solomonova E, Nielsen T. Mentation during sleep onset theta bursts in a trained participant: A role for NREM stage 1 sleep in memory processing? International Journal of Dream Research 2012;5:37-46.

Walker MP, Stickgold R. Sleep-dependent learning and memory consolidation. Neuron 2004;44:121-33.

Talamini LM, Bringmann LF, De Boer M, Hofman WF. Sleeping worries away or worrying away sleep? Physiological evidence on sleep-emotion interactions. PLoS One 2013;8:1-10.

Walker MP, van der Helm E. Overnight therapy? The role of sleep in emotional brain processing. Psychol Bull 2009;135:731-48.

Nielsen TA, Lara-Carrasco J. Nightmares, dreaming and emotion regulation: a review. In: Barrett D, McNamara P, eds. The New Science of Dreaming. Westport: Praeger Greenwood, 2007:253–84.

Payne JD, Stickgold R, Swanberg K, Kensinger EA. Sleep preferentially enhances memory for emotional components of scenes. Psychol Sci 2008;19:781-8.

Pace-Schott EF, Shepherd E, Spencer RM, et al. Napping promotes inter-session habituation to emotional stimuli. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2011;95:24-36.

van der Helm E, Yao J, Dutt S, Rao V, Saletin JM, Walker MP. REM sleep depotentiates amygdala activity to previous emotional experiences. Curr Biol 2011;21:2029-32.

Wagner U, Gais S, Born J. Emotional memory formation is enhanced across sleep intervals with high amounts of rapid eye movement sleep. Learn Mem 2001;8:112-9.

Yoo SS, Gujar N, Hu P, Jolesz FA, Walker MP. The human emotional brain without sleep--a prefrontal amygdala disconnect. Curr Biol 2007;17:R877-8.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.12871/aib.v156i3.4645

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.