The Riddle: Where Ideas Come From and How to Have Better Ones

Chapter 4. IT CAME TO ME IN A DREAM

Several studies have examined the connection between sleep and creativity. Using technology in the place of historical anecdote, one of them provides evidence that neuronal activity in the human brain during wakeful hours is reactivated during sleep; that is, we replay activities during sleep that we experienced while awake. More important, we rehearse variations of those activities. In other words, we are not beholden to what actually happened; rather, we use the information we have and reorganize it during sleep to create all sorts of unique combinations. During sleep, disparate, seemingly unrelated experiences and information are rearranged, thus forming connections that otherwise might not be made while awake. This may help explain the waking genius phenomenon.

The confluence of disparate information that transpires as a result of the information consolidation during sleep gives rise to a new point of view that has the potential to produce a novel thought. Specifically, this is observed by increased activation in the hippocampus, which is thought to be critical for information consolidation and memory formation. As someone who has done a lot of sleeping over the years, you are likely very familiar with the phenomenon of your mind's rearranging the experiences you've had during your waking hours. The dreams you can remember are often a mishmash of the people, places, and activities you've encountered during that day. For example, let's say that ...