In the Hollywood blockbuster “Inception” (2010), a dedicated team of “dream extractors” is hired to alter a CEO’s decision-making by manipulating his dreams. In the movie, this feat involves a private jet and liters of sedative gas — but a new study suggests they could have achieved a similar effect with only some steel-drum jingles and a comfy bed in a research lab.
The new work shows that audio cues played to sleeping volunteers during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, the stage of sleep when most dreaming occurs, can manipulate dream content.
In some cases, this manipulation improved the volunteers’ ability to solve puzzles they had first encountered the day before.
“Writer Fuel” is a series of cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration.
