Dreaming is the brain's way of learning and making sense of the world, scientists have claimed
People who nap and dream about a task they have just learned perform it better when they wake up than those who don't sleep at all or don't report any associated dreams.
A group of 99 volunteers were asked to sit in front of a computer screen and learn the layout of a three-dimensional maze so that they could find their way to a landmark - a tree - when they were dropped at a random location within the virtual space five hours later.
Sweet dreams: Having a nap after learning a task may help you perform it better when you wake up, U.S. researchers have found
Those who were allowed to take a nap and also remembered dreaming of the task found the tree in less time.
Robert Stickgold, of Harvard Medical School, who led the study, said: 'We at first thought that dreaming must reflect the memory process that's improving performance.
'But when you look at the content of the dreams, it was hard to argue that.'
In a few cases, the dreamers said they recalled just the music from the computer maze.
One subject said they were dreaming that there were people at particular checkpoints in the maze, even though the real maze didn't have any people or checkpoints.
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Another said they dreamt about an experience they'd had romping through bat caves and thinking that the caves were like mazes.
Professor Stickgold said the findings were ground breaking.
'What's got us really excited, is that after nearly 100 years of debate about the function of dreams, this study tells us that dreams are the brain's way of processing, integrating and really understanding new information.
'Dreams are a clear indication that the sleeping brain is working on memories at multiple levels, including ways that will directly improve performance.
'The dreams might reflect the brain's attempt to find associations for the memories that could make them more useful in the future.
'In fact, this may be one of the main goals that led to the evolution of sleep. If you remain awake you perform worse on the subsequent task. Your memory actually decays, no matter how much you might think about the maze.'
He said it was not the dreams that led to better memory, but rather that they were a sign that other, unconscious parts of the brain were working hard to remember how to get through the virtual maze and the dreams were essentially a side effect of that memory process.
Professor Stickgold said people could take advantage of this phenomenon for improving learning and memory.
For instance, it may be better to study hard right before you go to sleep than in the afternoon, or to take a nap after a period of intense afternoon study.
More generally, people might take notice of the study habits or mental processes while awake that lead them to dream about something they need to remember.
However, Professor Stickgold said the findings might finally answer the question as to why we dream.
He added: 'Some have viewed dreaming as entertainment, but this study suggests it is a by-product of memory processing.'
Now the researchers hope to follow up their study by manipulating the learning environment in ways that boost incorporation into dreams.
They also plan to study the same phenomenon following a full night of sleep as opposed to a nap.
The findings were reported online in the journal Current Biology.
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