Sleep onset is a creative sweet spot
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= 103) were exposed to mathematical problems without knowing that a hidden rule allowed solving them almost instantly. We found that spending at least 15 s in N1 during a resting period tripled the chance to discover the hidden rule (83% versus 30% when participants remained awake), and this effect vanished if subjects reached deeper sleep. Our findings suggest that there is a creative sweet spot within the sleep-onset period, and hitting it requires individuals balancing falling asleep easily against falling asleep too deeply.
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Creative and potentially realistic dreams may help the dreamer in creative problem solving after sleeping.
“Creative and potentially realistic dreams may help the dreamer in creative problem solving after sleeping [9,34,35].”
From How Adversarial REM Dreams May Facilitate Creativity, and Why We Become Aware of Them (2024) · cites this paper as [35]
The Results (‘A single minute of N1 inspires insight’; page not provided) show that participants who entered the first stage of sleep were more likely to solve the task after the break. But the Results (‘A reliable marker of sleep onset’) found no effect of hypnagogic experiences, including task-related ones, on insight, and the Discussion says their role remains an open question. The paper therefore supports a benefit of sleep onset, not the proposed benefit of dreams or their being realistic. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredCreative problem solving is boosted in the first NREM sleep stage (N1) by exploiting Edison's technique, or by simply closing the eyes during active imagination.
“Since creative problem solving is also shown to be boosted in the first NREM sleep stage (N1, [35]) by exploiting Edison's technique, or by simply closing the eyes [46] during active imagination”
From How Adversarial REM Dreams May Facilitate Creativity, and Why We Become Aware of Them (2024) · cites this paper as [35]
The Results and Discussion support improved problem-solving insight after N1 sleep and say Edison’s technique appears to help keep participants in N1 rather than deeper sleep. The Discussion cautions that a control experiment without the bottle is needed before concluding that the technique itself fosters insight. The separate claim about closing the eyes is cited to [46], not this source. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredCreative problems are easier solved on the verge of falling asleep and being awakened from the first stage of NREM sleep (N1), as opposed to being awakened from the second stage of NREM sleep (N2) or staying awake throughout.
“Experimental examination confirmed this anecdotal evidence and revealed that creative problems are easier solved on the verge of falling asleep and being awakened from the first stage of NREMsleep (N1), as opposed to being awakened from the second stage of NREM sleep (N2) or staying awake throughout [35].”
From How Adversarial REM Dreams May Facilitate Creativity, and Why We Become Aware of Them (2024) · cites this paper as [35]
In hypnagogic/hypnopompic states the brain tends to forge unusual out of the box semantic connections between otherwise semantically disparate concepts.
“In these transitional states the brain tends to forge unusual out of the box semantic connections between otherwise semantically disparate concepts.”
From Prodromal dreams (2025) · cites this paper as [87]
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Neuroscience for Innovation Leaders: Applying Brain Science to Drive Innovation
Sonderegger, L. B. (2023) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-83753-396-120231002 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Using artworks to understand human memory and its neural mechanisms
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How Adversarial Rem-Dreams May Facilitate Creativity, and Why We Become Aware of ThemPreprint
Deperrois, N., Petrovici, M. A., Jordan, J., Huber, L. S., & Senn, W. (2024) · Preprints.org · doi:10.20944/preprints202403.0684.v2 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Learning the bistable cortical dynamics of the sleep-onset period
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Jiang, X., Chai, C., & Shen, C. (2025) · Thinking Skills and Creativity · doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2025.101969 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Dream-like mental states can occur during wakefulness
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Self-citationIdeas that come at night: on sleep research in 2022
Arnulf, I. (2022) · The Lancet Neurology · doi:10.1016/s1474-4422(22)00481-1 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
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Self-citationDreamcatcher a Real-Time Generative Art Studying Subconscious Imagery
Rasheed, F., Waldman, M., & Onkar, P. S. (2025) · Communications in computer and information science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-80832-6_25 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Delayed emergence of EEG-based task-relevant representations
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Lacaux, C. (2022) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.ade3129 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Self-citationThe dialogue between Ebbinghaus and Bach: studying human memory with artworksPreprint
Liu, W., & Guo, J. (2022) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/4y5aw · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Sleep resolves competition between explicit exemplar memory and implicit memory generalizationPreprint
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McNamara, P. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1625811
“Take for example, dreams that occur when transitioning into or out of stage N1 sleep known as hypnagogic/ hypnopompic states (87).”
The next step in understanding the function of dreams
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Pagel, J. F. (2024) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-323-99738-6.00010-1
Cogito Meliorem! In Search of Magical Ways to Facilitate Creativity
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Experiences, Lived and Imagined
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Selected Recordings of Music Mentioned in Text
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Advance Praise for Dreaming and Thinking in Music
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Adolphe, B. (2025) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197821640.003.0002
Dreaming and Thinking in Music
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The Emergence of New Schema Memory Requires Sleep
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The borderland between wakefulness and sleep, a doorway into creativity
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Self-citationDreamliminal: A Closed-Loop EEG Wearable for Prolonging the N1 Sleep Stage
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Delphine Oudiette : « Nous redéfinissons les frontières du sommeil et de l’éveil »
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- Authors
- Lacaux, C., Andrillon, T., Bastoul, C., Idir, Y., Fonteix-Galet, A., Arnulf, I., & Oudiette, D.
- Affiliations
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Oudiette, Delphine
- Venue
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2021-12-10
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 50
- Pages
- eabj5866-eabj5866
- ISSN
- 2375-2548 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8654287
- OpenAlex
- W4200209886
- Cited by
- 95
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 6.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Science Advances (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-10-IAHU-0006)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Keywords
- sleep onset, N1 sleep stage, mathematical problem solving, creative problem solving, sleep-dependent memory consolidation, sleep depth, restorative sleep
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