A new research study conducted by neuroscientists has revealed the possibility of influencing dream content, boosting creativity and improving problem-solving abilities.
During the experimentation, the researchers at Northwestern University used Targeted Memory reactivation (TMR) to manipulate the dream during REM sleep.
The scientists during the sleep played specific sound cues associated with unsolved puzzles and triggered dreams related to those complicated tasks.
According to the findings published in Neuroscience of Consciousness, the participants who saw puzzles in their dream would likely exhibit a significant increase in mental performance, leading to boosting problem-solving capabilities.
The study also found a direct correlation between dream content and success rates. For instance, the participants who saw dream-related puzzles came up with a 42 percent solution rate as compared to individuals with non-dream puzzles, showing a 17 percent success rate.
One of the most surprising findings was that participants did not need to be lucid for the cues to work as dreams incorporated the puzzles in creative ways, such as walking through a forest after a cue for a tree puzzle.
As per researchers’ observations, the brain processes external information and applies it to internal problems without conscious awareness.
The recent breakthrough could be used in future for different purposes.
Besides increasing creativity, the researchers believe that these methods could be used for emotional regulation, treating mental health issues and psychological distress.
The research also paves the way for sleep engineering, such as using sleep as a structured tool for solving complex global and personal problems.
According to Karen Konkoly, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral researcher in Paller's Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, "If scientists can definitively say that dreams are important for problem solving, creativity and emotion regulation, hopefully people will start to take dreams seriously as a priority for mental health and well-being."