Cargando…

Sleep Does Not Promote Solving Classical Insight Problems and Magic Tricks

During creative problem solving, initial solution attempts often fail because of self-imposed constraints that prevent us from thinking out of the box. In order to solve a problem successfully, the problem representation has to be restructured by combining elements of available knowledge in novel an...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Schönauer, Monika, Brodt, Svenja, Pöhlchen, Dorothee, Breßmer, Anja, Danek, Amory H., Gais, Steffen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5834438/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29535620
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00072
_version_ 1783303641324584960
author Schönauer, Monika
Brodt, Svenja
Pöhlchen, Dorothee
Breßmer, Anja
Danek, Amory H.
Gais, Steffen
author_facet Schönauer, Monika
Brodt, Svenja
Pöhlchen, Dorothee
Breßmer, Anja
Danek, Amory H.
Gais, Steffen
author_sort Schönauer, Monika
collection PubMed
description During creative problem solving, initial solution attempts often fail because of self-imposed constraints that prevent us from thinking out of the box. In order to solve a problem successfully, the problem representation has to be restructured by combining elements of available knowledge in novel and creative ways. It has been suggested that sleep supports the reorganization of memory representations, ultimately aiding problem solving. In this study, we systematically tested the effect of sleep and time on problem solving, using classical insight tasks and magic tricks. Solving these tasks explicitly requires a restructuring of the problem representation and may be accompanied by a subjective feeling of insight. In two sessions, 77 participants had to solve classical insight problems and magic tricks. The two sessions either occurred consecutively or were spaced 3 h apart, with the time in between spent either sleeping or awake. We found that sleep affected neither general solution rates nor the number of solutions accompanied by sudden subjective insight. Our study thus adds to accumulating evidence that sleep does not provide an environment that facilitates the qualitative restructuring of memory representations and enables problem solving.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5834438
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-58344382018-03-13 Sleep Does Not Promote Solving Classical Insight Problems and Magic Tricks Schönauer, Monika Brodt, Svenja Pöhlchen, Dorothee Breßmer, Anja Danek, Amory H. Gais, Steffen Front Hum Neurosci Neuroscience During creative problem solving, initial solution attempts often fail because of self-imposed constraints that prevent us from thinking out of the box. In order to solve a problem successfully, the problem representation has to be restructured by combining elements of available knowledge in novel and creative ways. It has been suggested that sleep supports the reorganization of memory representations, ultimately aiding problem solving. In this study, we systematically tested the effect of sleep and time on problem solving, using classical insight tasks and magic tricks. Solving these tasks explicitly requires a restructuring of the problem representation and may be accompanied by a subjective feeling of insight. In two sessions, 77 participants had to solve classical insight problems and magic tricks. The two sessions either occurred consecutively or were spaced 3 h apart, with the time in between spent either sleeping or awake. We found that sleep affected neither general solution rates nor the number of solutions accompanied by sudden subjective insight. Our study thus adds to accumulating evidence that sleep does not provide an environment that facilitates the qualitative restructuring of memory representations and enables problem solving. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-02-26 /pmc/articles/PMC5834438/ /pubmed/29535620 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00072 Text en Copyright © 2018 Schönauer, Brodt, Pöhlchen, Breßmer, Danek and Gais. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Schönauer, Monika
Brodt, Svenja
Pöhlchen, Dorothee
Breßmer, Anja
Danek, Amory H.
Gais, Steffen
Sleep Does Not Promote Solving Classical Insight Problems and Magic Tricks
title Sleep Does Not Promote Solving Classical Insight Problems and Magic Tricks
title_full Sleep Does Not Promote Solving Classical Insight Problems and Magic Tricks
title_fullStr Sleep Does Not Promote Solving Classical Insight Problems and Magic Tricks
title_full_unstemmed Sleep Does Not Promote Solving Classical Insight Problems and Magic Tricks
title_short Sleep Does Not Promote Solving Classical Insight Problems and Magic Tricks
title_sort sleep does not promote solving classical insight problems and magic tricks
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5834438/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29535620
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00072
work_keys_str_mv AT schonauermonika sleepdoesnotpromotesolvingclassicalinsightproblemsandmagictricks
AT brodtsvenja sleepdoesnotpromotesolvingclassicalinsightproblemsandmagictricks
AT pohlchendorothee sleepdoesnotpromotesolvingclassicalinsightproblemsandmagictricks
AT breßmeranja sleepdoesnotpromotesolvingclassicalinsightproblemsandmagictricks
AT danekamoryh sleepdoesnotpromotesolvingclassicalinsightproblemsandmagictricks
AT gaissteffen sleepdoesnotpromotesolvingclassicalinsightproblemsandmagictricks