After being challenged by a video game problem, sleep increases the chance to solve it

In the past years many studies have demonstrated the role of sleep on memory consolidation. It is known that sleeping after learning a declarative or non-declarative task, is better than remaining awake. Furthermore, there are reports of a possible role for dreams in consolidation of declarative mem...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-01, Vol.9 (1), p.e84342-e84342
Main Authors: Beijamini, Felipe, Pereira, Sofia Isabel Ribeiro, Cini, Felipe Augusto, Louzada, Fernando Mazzilli
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology
Coding
Cognition & reasoning
Computer & video games
Consolidation
Creativity
Dreams
Experiments
Explicit knowledge
Eye movements
Female
Humans
Learning
Logic
Medicine
Memory
Neocortex
Problem solving
Problem Solving - physiology
Rapid eye movement state
REM sleep
Sleep
Sleep (REM)
Sleep - physiology
Sleep Stages
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Studies
Surveys and Questionnaires
Trends
Video games
Video Games - psychology
Wakefulness
Young Adult
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Summary:In the past years many studies have demonstrated the role of sleep on memory consolidation. It is known that sleeping after learning a declarative or non-declarative task, is better than remaining awake. Furthermore, there are reports of a possible role for dreams in consolidation of declarative memories. Other studies have reported the effect of naps on memory consolidation. With similar protocols, another set of studies indicated that sleep has a role in creativity and problem-solving. Here we hypothesised that sleep can increase the likelihood of solving problems. After struggling to solve a video game problem, subjects who took a nap (n = 14) were almost twice as likely to solve it when compared to the wake control group (n = 15). It is interesting to note that, in the nap group 9 out 14 subjects engaged in slow-wave sleep (SWS) and all solved the problem. Surprisingly, we did not find a significant involvement of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep in this task. Slow-wave sleep is believed to be crucial for the transfer of memory-related information to the neocortex and implement intentions. Sleep can benefit problem-solving through the generalisation of newly encoded information and abstraction of the gist. In conclusion, our results indicate that sleep, even a nap, can potentiate the solution of problems that involve logical reasoning. Thus, sleep's function seems to go beyond memory consolidation to include managing of everyday-life events.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0084342