A month or so ago there was an interesting article about dreams in a NYTimes blog by Jonah Lehrer.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/why-we-need-to-dream/
He discussed the purpose of dreams--possibly a combination of sorting through new experiences to decide which to remember and an attempt to search for new associations. In this way the dreams are essential for creative thought.
He discussed an interesting experiment by Jan Born published in Nature in 2004. The study involved subjects doing a tedious numerical task. However, there was a shortcut to the task if the subjects could see subtle links between number sets. Less than 25% of the subjects found the shortcut. However, if people slept between trials 59% were able to see the shortcut.
I think that is an amazing finding. Haven't most of us had the experience of waking up suddenly with the solution to a problem we have been puzzling over? I always talk to students about the importance of sleep. In most cases, I believe students would benefit more from extra sleep than extra studying. As we move into finals periods, I would encourage all of you to get some sleep. Let your brain work.
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