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Dreaming

Vol 3 No.2

1993

The Committee

o

Sleep : A Study o Dream

Incubation for Problem Solving

Deirdre Barrett

1

,2

Subjects incubated dreams addressing problems chosen

by

the dreamer nightly for one

week Approximately

half

recalled a dream which they judged

to

be related to their

problem; a majority of these believed their dream contained a solution. Problems of a

personal nature were much more likely to be viewed as solved than ones

of

an academic

or general objective nature. Independent judges rated slightly fewer dreams as either

addressing or solving the problems than did the dreamers but the trends of their

conclusions followed the same patterns

as

those of the dreamers.

KEY WORDS: dreaming; problem solving; creativity; dream incubation.

The French Surrealist poet, St. Paul Boux, would hang a sign

on

his bedroom

door before retiring which read: "Poet at work." (Gumpertz, 1976, p. 161). A similar

belief in nocturnal productivity was expressed

by

John Steinbeck:

It

is a common

experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the

committee

of

sleep has worked on it." (Running Press, 1988,

p.

88). A shorter ver

sion

of

this has become the cliche: "Sleep on it "

None of these quotes designate the dream as spokesperson for the committee

of sleep. However most accounts of solving problems or producing creative products

during sleep are

of

REM-like dreams

or

hypnogogic imagery. In the most famous

and controversial example, the chemist Kekule reported that his Nobel-prize win

ning realization

of

the structure

of

the benzene molecule as hexagonal rather than

straight came after dreaming

of

a snake grasping its tail in its mouth (Ramsay and

Rocke, 1984). Mendeleev described dreaming the periodic table of the elements in

its completed form (Kedrov, 1957, pp. 91-113). The Nobel-prize winning experiment

demonstrating the chemical transmission of nerve impulses to a frog's heart was

conceived by Otto Loewi in a dream (Dement, 1974, p. 98).

Inventions as varied as Elias Howe's sewing machine needle--with the hole

at the pointed end (Kaempffert, 1924, p. 385) and J. B. Parkinson's computer-con

trolled anti-aircraft gun (Fagen, 1978,

p.

135) have reportedly been conceived in

IHarvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

2Address all correspondence concerning this article to Dr. Barrett at Harvard Medical School, Behavioral

Medicine Program, 1493 Cambridge St., Cambridge,

M

02139.

115

1053·0797/93/0600·0115$07.00/1 ©

1993

Association for the Study

of

Dreams



116

arrett

dreams. William Blake described being told

by

his dead brother in a dream about

a new way

to

engrave his illustrated songs which he found worked well (Diamond,

1963, p. 17). Coleridge (1895) states in the preface to Kubla Khan that the poem

appeared complete in an opium-induced dream, and Robert Lewis Stevenson (1925)

dreamed the two key scenes

of

his novel,

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Music pieces

which were heard by their composers in dreams include Tartini's Devil's Trill

(Ellis, 1911, p. 286), and Stravinsky's Rite o Spring Scholar Herman Hilprecht re

ported that he dreamed an Assyrian priest came to him and revealed the accurate

translation

of

the stone

of

Nebuchadnezzar (Van

de

Castle, 1971, p. 1).

In

modern

times, Jack Nicklaus credited a crucial improvement in his golf game to dreaming

of

a new way to grasp his club (Dement, 1974, p. 101).

Dream psychologists and historians take a variety

of

stances toward such an

ecdotes. Wotiz and Rudofsky (1984) have suggested that Kekule confabulated

or

lied about the snake image long after publishing his benzene paper to conceal his

reliance

on

earlier chemists' work. However, Ramsay and Rocke (1984) have docu

mented that Kekule described a dream image from his first presentation

of

the

paper, appropriately cited his predecessors, and that much

of

Wotiz and Rudofsky's

argument rested

on

faulty translations of German documents. Blagrove (1992) as

serts that, on principle, none

of

these anecdotes could

be

accurate. He argues that

dreams, by their very nature, cannot even intend to solve a problem, much less do

so: the place for problem-solving is the waking, social world. (p. 24)

Others not only believe such problem solving occurs spontaneously, but also

advocate cultivating it by dream incubation (Garfield, 1974; Reed, 1976; Delaney,

1979). Garfield writes: Once your dream state has provided you with your own

poem,

or

painting,

or

solution to a problem, you know Ever after you

will

be

able

to seek inspiration and help from your dream state Those who do not 'believe

in' dreams have only nonsensical ones. (p. 199-200)

Several research studies have examined different aspects

of

problem solving

and dreams. Wile (1934) addressed the incubation issue when he measured how

long it took children to self-induce a dream on a desired topic. The average time

was 5 weeks; the shortest was 2 weeks, the longest 6 months. Wollmering (1978)

found that in an even shorter period of time, 38% of young adult subjects could

learn to alter the outcomes

of

their dreams

in

ways they selected before sleep.

Cartwright (1974) had subjects try to solve three types

of

problems: crossword

puzzles, word association tests, and story completion. Before giving their answers,

they were given either a sleep period that included at least one

REM

interval

or

an equivalent amount

of

waking time. The first two types

of

problems were judged

for correctness, and no differences were found between having sleep-with-

REM

vs

a waking interval. Story completions were judged for optimistic

vs

negative ending;

sleep with

REM

produced more negative endings. However the experiment did not

attempt to evaluate the quality

of

stories.

Dement

(1974) gave 500 undergraduate students three brain-teaser prob

lems to read over before going to sleep and to note whether they had solutions in

their dreams that night.

Of

1,148 attempts at solving problems, 87 dreams addressed

the problem without finding a solution. Seven students reported dreams which

solved the problem and a few others had dreams which seemed to hint at the so-



Problem

Solving

117

lution without

the

waking subject catching the hint. An example of the latter was

dreamed

in response to

the

problem:

HIJKLMNO:

what one word does this se

quence

represent?

The subject reported: I had several dreams all of which

had

water

somewhere and described the water in each dream. However his guess

at the solution to the problem was alphabet rather than water (=H20).

Morton

Schatzman (1983a, 1983b, 1984, 1986) has

repeated

this experimental

paradigm, giving brain-teasers to huge numbers

of

people in England via the mass

media. He has received dozens

of

examples

of

dreams solving those problems al

though

he

has no way of ascertaining

the

total

number of

people who may have

been trying to incubate the solutions. Like Dement, he has observed some dream

examples which seem to contain solutions without the dreamer having caught on.

For the present experiment, it was decided to explore what subjects would

do

with solving problems of their own choice. Although these lack a definitive cri

teria for quality of solutions, they have an immense advantage in terms of relevance

and motivation. They parallel spontaneous, and especially clinical, uses

of

problem

solving much

more

closely

than

do brain teasers.

METHOD

Seventy-six college students (47 women, 29 men; ages 19-24, modal age =

21) were asked to incubate dreams addressing problems as a homework assignment

in a class on dreams. They were instructed to select a problem of personal relevance

with recognizable solution(s). It could

be

of a personal, general objective, or aca

demic nature.

They

were asked to write

out

the problem in a simple fashion

and

to

follow the

dream

incubation instructions of Dement (1974). Immediately prior

to the

first night of dream incubation, they had

attended

a lecture summarizing

the literature on problem solving in dreams. This included the studies reviewed

above

and

a detailed description of

the

dream incubation techniques of Dement

(1974), Garfield (1974), Reed (1976), Delaney (1979), and Schatzman (1983a).

Subjects followed this procedure nightly for one week

or

until they had a

dream

which they felt solved the problem. They recorded all dreams they recalled

during this week and noted which ones they thought: A) were on the topic of the

problem, including addressing any aspect of the problem or any attempted solution

of

it

and

B

of

these, ones they believed contained a satisfactory solution to the

problem.

Two raters then judged all dreams in the week's journals on criteria A and

B

above.

Dreams deemed

by

both

judges to address or solve problems were used

for analysis.

RESULTS

Agreement

between judges ranged from

88

to 100%. Agreement

of

judges

with subjects ranged from

75

to 100%. See Table

1



WI

Barrett

Table

1

Percentage

Agreement between Judges and Subjects

on

Ratings of

Dream

Incubation

Outcomes

Total

Dream

Dream

on

Topic Solution in

Dream

Incubaters

N 2 Js =

Js w/S = 2 Js = Js w/S =

Personal

64 96 84 98 88

Objective

8 88 88 100

88

Academic

4

100 75 100 100

Ail

problems

76 97 84 99 88

Approximately half of the subjects recalled a dream which they felt was related

to the problem. Seventy percent

of these believed their dream contained a solution

to the problem. A majority

of

subjects selected problems

of

a personal nature for

incubation. Virtually all

of

these were either relationship dilemmas

or

educational/vo-

cational decisions. These problems

of

a personal nature were much more likely to

be

viewed as solved by the dreamer than ones of an academic nature.

The

two objective

problems of a medical nature were so much more clearly addressed

in

the dreams

than any

other

type of objective problem that they are displayed as a separate sub-

category. See Table 2

Independent

judges rated slightly fewer dreams as either addressing or solving

the problems

than

did the dreamers,

but

the trends of their conclusions followed

the

same patterns as those

of

the dreamers. See Table 3

The following personal problem example is representative of those which

judges

and

subjects agreed addressed a problem

and

presented a solution:

Problem:

I

have

applied

to two clinical psychology

programs and

two in industrial

psychology because I just can' decide which field I

want

to go into.

Dream:

A map

of

the United

States.

I

am in a plane flying

over

this map. The pilot says we are having

engine trouble and need to land and we look for a safe place on the map indicated by a

light.

I

ask

about MA

which we seem 10 be

over

right

then

and he says all of MA is very

dangerous. The lights seem to be further west. I wake up and realize that my two clinical

schools are both in MA where

I

have spent my whole life and

where

my parents live.

Both industrial programs are far away, Texas and

CA.

That was because originally

I

was

looking to stay dose to home and there were no good industrial programs nearby.

I

realize

thai there

is

a lot wrong with staying at horne and that, funny as it sounds, getting away

is probably

more

important

than

which kind of program I go to.

Personal

Objective

(medical)

(other)

Academic

All problems

Table

2. Subjects' Ratings of Dream Incubation Outcomes

Total

Dream Dream

on

Incubaters Topic

N=

=

64 48

8

63

(2) (100)

(6) (50)

4 25

76

49

Solution in

Dream

=

36

38

(50)

(17)

o

34



Problem Solving

119

Table 3. Judges' Ratings of Dream Incubation Outcomes

Total Dream

Dream on Solution in

Incubaters

Topic Dream

N=

=

=

Personal

64

5

28

Objective

8 50

38

(medical)

(2) (100) (100)

(other)

(6) (33) (17)

Academic

4 5 0

All problems

76

51

25

A few dreams were much more literal depictions of problems and their so-

lutions as the following example agreed upon by judges and subjects:

Problem: I'm accepted at a medical school that is asking that I pay $500 to secure my

place by a date before my top three medical schools

will

have answered. Dream:

It

was

winter and I was getting rejections from everywhere, so I decided I should pay the $500.

The dreams rated by subjects

but

not

by

judges as addressing and solving

problems were usually more metaphoric as in the following examples:

Problem: I'm trying to decide whether to be on the softball team again this spring. I love

it, but practice does take time away from my studies. I could just go to watch the games

this year and still see my friends from the team. Dream: I'm I'm camping in an open

place in a tent that doesn't come all the way to the ground. People are all around staring

at me. I feel very uncomfortable and exposed. Solution:

The

dream reminded me of the

phrase a watcher rather than a doer which has very negative connotations for me. I

don't think I'd be happy with just going to the games.

The

only two medical problems resulted

in

dreams viewed as both addressing

and solving those problems by judges. The first one was viewed as presenting a

solution by the subject also. The second one constituted the only time the judges

viewed a dream as presenting a plausible solution while the subject viewed

it

as

only presenting the problem:

Problem: I've been having major problems with my menstrual cycle and my doctor can't

figure

out

what

is

wrong. Dream:

my

doctor told me I was having a reaction from being

on a diet and exercising more than I ever have. In the dream,

my

doctor gave me medicine

to correct this and I would be fine if I took this medicine. In waking life, he did ask about

diet and I didn't tell him how much I'm dieting; he's never asked about exercise. I guess

I should tell him about the diet and exercise, huh?

Problem: Whether I had taken

my

medicine. I'm supposed to take just one of these pills

a day; it's bad if I take more than one or miss one. I couldn't remember this day if I had

taken it and I was really worried. Dream: I was drinking water and swallowing pills over

and over, it just went

on

with me drinking and taking pills for a long time.

The only non-medical objective problem that was judged to be solved was the

following:

Problem: I recently moved from one apartment to a smaller one. Every way I try to arrange

my bedroom furniture in the new room looks crowded. I've been trying to decide if there

is

a better way or if I have to get rid

of

something. Dream: I come home and all the

boxes are unpacked and the pictures hung. Everything looks real nice.

The

little chest of

drawers

is

in the living room up against a wall like a sideboard

and

it blends right in



120

Barrett

there. I'm puzzled because I didn't remember doing this. I can't figure out if I moved the

chest and unpacked or if someone else has, but I like

it.

Awake: The chest actually fit

there real well when I tried

it

so I left it there.

DISCUSSION

Subjects in this study were unusually interested in dreams and had been ex

posed to some problem-solving success stories. Obviously they are unrepresentative

of

the general population and therefore one would not expect this study to typify

what happens by way

of

spontaneous problem solving in dreams. However, these

subjects' characteristics and preparation make them highly comparable to clients

of

therapists who use these techniques and to readership

of

self-help books which

advocate such techniques.

The

results

of

the present study would lead one to expect that about half

of

such therapy clients or self-help practitioners would experience themselves as in

fluencing their dream content toward a specified problem and about a third

of

them would report a solution appearing

in

a dream. These are similar to conclusions

of

earlier studies (Wile, 1934; Wollmering, 1978).

The types of problems viewed as solved

in

the present study are consistent

with dream anecdotes which feature personal problems much more so than aca

demic ones. Personal problems are the ones to which most psychotherapists apply

dream incubation techniques (Garfield, 1974; Reed, 1976; Delaney, 1979.) nother

category which looks strong in this study, but is far too small to generalize from is

that

of

medical problems. Again there are many anecdotes about such problems

(Garfield, 1991) and some preliminary research to suggest the body can sense

(Smith, 1990), and even present solutions (Kasatkin, 1967) to health problems.

Although this study was not set up to rigorously evaluate the quality

of

the

solutions, many of them appear to be ones of which the dreamers were not already

consciously aware. The solutions seem to be

in

line with the subjects' waking abili

ties.

The

dreams help when dreamers are stuck in their waking decisions but do

not represent dramatically different intellectual faculties. This is consistent with the

anecdotal literature: it is known composers who dream great music, established writ

ers who dream classic poetry, and top scientists who have Nobel material arrive in

their dreams.

Dream

novelty

is

optimal in open-ended problems without known solutions

such as the furniture arranging example quoted above. Problems framed as a di

chotomous choice between two already conceived solutions obviously have a better

chance

of

the dream offering a solution but less likelihood

of

novelty. However,

some dreams on dichotomous problems did offer novel solutions as in the example

of

choosing between two types

of

graduate programs being reframed into the issue

of

their locations

vis

a

vis

separation from family and home.

Other

dichotomous

problems were answered with dreams that favored one choice over another. Some

of

these afforded their dreamers a sense

of

resolution. Here the solution aspect

lay in emotional release from one side

of

their ambivalence rather than from nov

elty.



Problem Solving

121

There are potential dangers in automatically taking a dream as the "right an

swer" in making decisions. Class lectures and reading had emphasized dream solutions

only as material to examine from a waking perspective. However, this experiment

occurred

at

a religious college and several of the responses indicated a firm conviction

that dreams came from God and that therefore, a dreamed solution should definitely

be followed. That dreams on dichotomous problems could occur arbitrarily on either

side of the ambivalence was illustrated best

by

the following example:

Problem: My boyfriend plans to join the army full-time after graduation (he's in the

reserves right now).

He

has asked

me

to marry him and wants me to

go

with him wherever

he is assigned. I don t know if I want to be an army wife. I am very scared and confused

about what to do. Dreams: The first night I was incubating this problem. I dreamed we

were with his mother and

her

seven foster children. We were happy and holding hands.

The

second night I incubated it, I

dreamed

we were at

the

country club where I work

having our wedding reception. Everyone was laughing and dancing, just having a good

time.

He had

a tux

on

and I had a wedding gown on and I was very much in love with

him. I thought that was a solution. Several nights later after I had stopped incubating the

problem, I dreamed we were about to get married and I was begging the people that were

with me not to make me do it. I kept saying "Please don t make me do it I don t want

to marry him PLEASE " I

remember

feeling very frightened and very alone. I felt like

if I married him my life would end.

Although

we

have thus far been referring to dreams as "solving problems," one

of the more interesting qualities of these dreams

is

that they appear more to be pre

senting to the dream ego a solution which has been arrived at by the start of the

dream. One does not see the problem being struggled with except in a few of the

examples judged to be addressing but not solving the problem. Sometimes the dream

ego gets the point late

in

the dreams as

in

the example of the clinical

vs.

industrial

graduate school map; however some other agency in the dream (in this case the pilot)

seems to have prepared the solution in advance. In the furniture arranging example,

the dream ego arrives home to find the solution that has already happened. This

is

consistent with previous examples cited by Dement (1972) and Schatzman (1983a,

1983b, 1984, 1986). Some of their longer examples of objective logical solutions being

presented begin with subtle hints building toward more obvious ones until the dream

ego "gets it."

Perhaps the "committee of sleep" may have workers outside of

REM

and the

"spokesperson" role of the dream may be more than a metaphor. Even more

likely,

given what

is

known about cortical activation, the problem may get solved by some

part of the waking mind and communicated to consciousness only in the dream state.

In summary, there remain many questions about the mechanism of problem

solving in dreams and about the quality of these solutions compared with waking

ones. It

is

clear, however, that dream-interested persons incubating problems can often

dream what they feel to be solutions

of

which they are not consciously aware and

that such dreams can provide them considerable personal satisfaction.

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83, p. 451-455.



122 Barrett

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Living Your Dreams.

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the committee of sleep 1993 barrett

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