Creativity and Sleep

Abstract

Creativity is one of the most valued cognitive traits and the driver of human culture. However, little is known about its psychological and neurobiological basis – partly because originality and uniqueness as essential characteristics of creativity are elusive topics when it comes to systematic research. Historical anecdotes, theoretical considerations and an increasing number of empirical studies suggest that sleep plays a role in the genesis of creative achievements: sleep does not only help to consolidate newly acquired information, but also to reorganize existing knowledge structures, and hence functions as an incubation phase for creative ideas and original problem solutions. Cognitive and physiological models consider random processes, a renunciation from unsuccessful problem solving attempts, flat associative hierarchies, defocused attention or low/fluctuating prefrontal cortical activity as essential mechanisms underlying creative achievements. Strikingly, these features are also realized during sleep, particularly during REM sleep and during the course of the nocturnal cycle of sleep stages. Systematic research on creative incubation processes which are realized in the reorganization of knowledge structures during sleep are a promising yet understudied field in cognitive neuroscience.