Guided Dreams

Recent sleep research has advanced our understanding on dreaming and processing during sleep (most of the data were heard during an inspiring talk by Bob Stickgold). For example, it has been shown that during sleep we not only remember things in the past day, but also continue processing it in many ways. It has been shown that motor skills learned during the day are further processed during sleep to actually enhance the performance after a good night sleep. The same has been shown for visual as well as other sensory memory tasks.

More importantly, it has been shown that insights also occur during dreams. While there have been anecdotes that famous scientists have made their discovery during dreaming, it has been shown in scientific methodological research that insights are gained during sleep. A problem, which can be solved by a "shortcut", was more frequently solved by this shortcut, after a good night sleep (and not just time passing). Somehow, the brain continues to process the information in sophisticated manners and find different representations and encoding of the data that not only improves memory, but also surfaces new insights.

The most striking thing though, in my opinion, is the research concerning guided dreaming. It has been shown in a scientific experiment that things that were linked via an extraneous sensory link, e.g. a scent or sound presented at the same time, were remembered better than objects that were not, only when that sensory link was presented at the appropriate time during sleep. For example, visual stimuli that were linked to scents were remembered after a night with the same scent.

I propose a practical tool for guided dreaming. While olfaction is currently not really available as a practical tool yet, I believe it can be used in the following (substitute "odor" whenever you see "sound"). The tool is a music player connected to your schedule. All during the day, for each of your specific activities, play a very specific kind of music that is distinct. For example, jazz for work, vocals for driving, hip-hop for play with the kids and techno with the wife. Then, before you go to sleep, decide how you want to spend your night: consolidate the time with the wife=> play (soft) techno; better remember your playing with the kids=>play hip-hop; solve a problem at work=>play jazz. As for the latter, you can obviously refine the method. If you have a busy day at work, but want to focus on one specific problem, hear jazz only when you're trying to solve that specific problem. Then, replaying jazz will enhance the chance of finding a solution.

I must caution that this method is based on an experiment, but is by no means sound-proof. It does not mean that suddenly your memory will be better, or that you'll only dream of what you want. However, based on these preliminary studies, there is a chance that your brain will work more on the specific issue that you guide it to.

If you're going to experiment on yourself, feel free to share your experience in this blog. I'm sure other people (mostly me) would love to hear about it. Good night.