Study finds you can solve puzzles in your dreams
Northwestern University researchers found that playing certain sounds during REM sleep can actually steer your dreams and help you solve brain teasers.
Using a technique called targeted memory reactivation (TMR), the 12 of 20 participants whose dreams incorporated the cued puzzles doubled their puzzle-solving success—from 20% to 40%—when their dreams were nudged with sound cues.
How the study was conducted
Twenty experienced lucid dreamers took part, each spending a few minutes with unique soundtracks for different puzzles before bed.
During REM sleep, some of these sounds were replayed, and while 75% of participants reported dreaming about fragments or ideas related to the unsolved puzzles in general, only 12 of 20 participants showed increased dream incorporation specifically tied to the cued puzzles.
Among those 12 participants whose dreams incorporated the cued puzzles, they not only dreamed more about the targeted puzzles but also solved them much more often than those whose dreams did not incorporate the cues.
What the researchers want to do next
Interestingly, even people who weren't fully aware they were dreaming still followed the sound cues—one even asked a dream character for help!
Lead author Karen Konkoly noted these moments show just how much our sleeping brains can pick up on outside hints.
Next up: researchers want to see if this approach could help with learning or managing emotions through dreams.