More often than not, our parents and mentors advise us to not practice haste, take time and sleep on issues before reacting to them. In fact, Albert Einstein was allegedly a huge advocate of sleep solutions, not only getting a big ten-hour stretch every night but also promoting the idea of short naps scattered throughout the day.
Scientists now have conducted new research that sheds light on the inner workings of our brain as we sleep. Cognitive processes that take place during dreams, fragments of reality, imagination, and memory intermingle in timeline-agnostic narratives that make little sense after we wake up. It seems to have something to do with memory reshuffling, and, indeed, studying before sleep is said to be a good way to retain information.
This research is the first demonstration of actually improving problem-solving by targeting memories for unsolved problems for extra processing during sleep.
When people choose to “sleep on” a difficult decision, it is because they know that there is a chance that they will wake up with a clearer view of the problem. Now, for the first time, researchers have been able to trigger problem-solving sleep. A summary of their findings appears in the October issue of Psychological Science.
This research is the first demonstration of actually improving problem-solving by targeting memories for unsolved problems for extra processing during sleep. It strengthens the literature suggesting sleep reorganizes memory and suggests that problem-solving may benefit from sleep due to rehearsal and consolidation of problem memory.
Read more: How to have better sleep: Leave your work in the office!
The Researcher’s Hypothesis
“We know that people rehearse or ‘consolidate’ memories during sleep, strengthening and reorganizing them,” says first author of the study Kristin Sanders, of the department of psychology at Northwestern University, in Evanston, IL.
The hypothesis investigated in Sanders’ study began with a recognition that solving a difficult problem — and creative thinking in general — can be a function of constructing new combinations of known elements in search of a previously undiscovered arrangement that reveals a solution. Sanders and colleagues wondered if there could be a problem-solving strategy similar to the reorganization of memory during sleep.
When people choose to “sleep on” a difficult decision, it is because they know that there is a chance that they will wake up with a clearer view of the problem.
To test their suspicion, the researchers needed a way to direct sleepers’ brains toward specific problems without waking them. Fortunately, says Sanders, previous research has shown that “this natural process can be boosted by playing sounds associated with the information being rehearsed.”
“Problem-solving is part of everyone’s daily life. While we use tricky puzzles in our study, the underlying cognitive processes could relate to solving any problem on which someone is stuck or blocked by an incorrect approach.”
Read more: Lack of sleep may cause stroke & blood pressure problems
The Study’s Experiments
The researchers sought to learn whether 57 participants could solve puzzles as they slept. So, the team presented the participants with an assortment of brainteasers in the evening before bed. Each puzzle was accompanied by, and thus associated with, a unique sound. Participants went to sleep, with some of their puzzles remaining unsolved.
As each participant slept, the researchers played the sounds for half of the person’s unsolved puzzles a level loud enough to be heard without causing an interruption in sleep. The idea was to call those puzzles to the attention of the sleeping mind for further exploration.
In the morning, having “slept on” their remaining brainteasers, the refreshed participants were able to work through more of them. They were able to solve 31.7% of the puzzles invoked by sounds during sleep — a 55% improvement over the 20.5% of uncued puzzles that they could solve.
Fortunately, says Sanders, previous research has shown that “this natural process can be boosted by playing sounds associated with the information being rehearsed.”
The study demonstrates for the first time that sleep can be manipulated to direct its unique talent for problem-solving toward the finding of solutions that prove elusive while awake. The researchers’ technique may apply to any problem about which a person has all the necessary information without being able to arrive at a solution.
Senior author of the study Prof. Mark Beeman says, “For example, no matter how much sleep I get, I’m not going to suddenly figure out black holes or find a cure for a rare disease because I don’t have the necessary background knowledge.” Nonetheless, he says, “This study provides yet more evidence that brain processing during sleep is helpful to daytime cognition.”
Sanders and colleagues conclude in their paper:
“Overall, these results demonstrate that cueing puzzle information during sleep can facilitate solving, thus supporting sleep’s role in problem incubation and establishing a new technique to advance understanding of problem-solving and sleep cognition.”
Read more: Poor sleep may fuel harmful eating habits and diabetes
Takeaway
A logical approach to problem-solving is to remove yourself from the situation and look at it with a bird’s eye view, for that, science and wise ancestors suggest that we refresh our brains by taking time off and more preferably taking a good night’s sleep. The scientific approach however only applies situations where people have the background information they need to solve the problem and just haven’t found the right configuration yet.