Posted on 06/08/2009 10:04:25 PM PDT by Schnucki
Researchers found that people were able to think more laterally and quickly after a snooze and that if they dreamed the ability was even more enhanced.
The scientists believe that "incubating" a problem often leads to a solution but that the effect was increased when people entered a phase of sleep known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM).
They believe that REM- which occurs most predominantly just before we awake – helps the brain make connections between unrelated subjects.
REM sleep they concluded was "important for assimilating new information into past experience" to come up with solutions to creative problems.
The study, led by Professor Sara Mednick, a psychiatrist at the University of California, involved 77 young adults who were given a number of word associated creative tasks in the morning.
Participants were shown multiple groups of three words (such as: cookie, heart, sixteen) and asked to find a fourth word that can be associated to all three words (like sweet).
Later in the day after some were allowed a nap – and monitored using brain scans to see what kind of sleep they entered – they were given the same and new tasks.
For the same tasks, the passage of time and sleep allowed them to "incubate" their thoughts and come up with better and more varied solutions.
However for new tasks, it was found that those that entered REM sleep improved by almost 40 per cent over their morning performances .
Prof Mednick, who published her findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). said that it appears REM sleep especially helps achieve new solutions by allowing the brain to make new and useful associations between unrelated ideas.
"We found that – for creative problems that you've already been working on – the passage of time
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
When you the statement "Researchers found..." at the beginning of a sentence, it means that someone greased someone's palm to get a grant to study some idiotic idea that would never have been studied if it weren't for the taxpayers funding it.
I believe it.
When I go to sleep tonight and wake tomorrow, will we have a different President?
How do you know you’re going to wake up tomorrow?
I’m a retired engineer.
During my working years, I’d go to sleep with a problem; and often, shortly after waking up from a sound sleep, I’d realize a path to solving the problem while in the shower.
bookmark
Nope.
I just woke up and it’s still there.
Dammit!
So you recommend showers instead of sleep to solve problems!?! ;^)
ping for later
“Sleeping on a problem really can solve it, claim scientists”
—unless you’re single, and that’s the problem—
Another important part of problem solving after the incubation period is to be able to realize the solution is ready. If, instead of getting up and taking a shower, you instead got up late, jumped into your car, and got into traffic, you may not have heard your subconscious telling you the solution and were never able to hear it all day long at work since you were busy thinking of other things. You would miss the subconscious solution.
But maybe a trip the restroom to take a leak would provide the needed mental quiet. I find I get things while brushing my teeth before bed.
The 3 “B”s are important: bed, bath, and beach. In other words, a relaxed state in which you are not actively thinking about anything important.
It happens to students taking tests. They can’t think of an answer no matter how hard they think. Then the test is over. As they walk down the hall to their next class, the answer pops into their consciousness. Learning to expect the answer and being able to relax often helps.
Scientists, engineers, and mathematicians have often had this experience, as you know.
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