ReviewTrends in cognitive sciences2018
How Memory Replay in Sleep Boosts Creative Problem-Solving.
Review in Trends in cognitive sciences, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05746299 (The Emergence of Abstract Structure Knowledge Across Learning and Sleep), which is not on this map. Cited by 78 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Emergence of Abstract Structure Knowledge Across Learning and Sleep
Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Should we all just take 10? A meta-analysis of wakeful rest.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2026Pooled it
- Sleep deprivation and memory: Meta-analytic reviews of studies on sleep deprivation before and after learning.Psychological bulletin · 2021Pooled it
- Offline generative network reconfiguration guides insight-like accelerated learning by assimilation into schema in rats.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Anti-NMDAR encephalitis impairs intrinsic hippocampal dynamics through neuronal hypercoupling, hub dominance, and aberrant ensembles.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Human hippocampal ripples coordinate planning sequences and compositional representations in neocortex.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- REM sleep favors the restructuring of problem-related semantic associations.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Comparative effects of diazepam administration and chronic sleep deprivation on cognitive function and biochemical markers in rats.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Memory reactivation during sleep promotes structure abstraction.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Dream content and slow waves benefit prey against predator in a video game confrontation.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Bridging neurobiological mechanisms and translational applications in cognitive science: inspirations from the MCCS-NYUAD meeting 2025.Molecular brain · 2026Review
- Exploring the sleep quality-creativity relationship: a moderated mediation analysis of positive emotions and psychological capital.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Creative problem-solving after experimentally provoking dreams of unsolved puzzles during REM sleep.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2026Article
- Post-learning replay of hippocampal-striatal activity is biased by reward-prediction signals.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Hippocampal indexing alters the stability landscape of synaptic weight space allowing life-long learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Creativity and REsilience Through Arts, Technology and Emotions: A Pilot Study on the Feasibility and Validity of the CREATE Platform.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Investigating dreams by strategically presenting sounds during REM sleep to reactivate waking experiences.Neuropsychologia · 2025Article
- Slow-wave sleep and REM sleep differentially contribute to memory representational transformation.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Systems memory consolidation during sleep: oscillations, neuromodulators, and synaptic remodeling.BMB reports · 2025Review
- An afternoon nap facilitates analogical transfer in creative problem solving.Journal of sleep research · 2025Article
- Cholinergic modulation of neural networks supports sequential and complementary roles for NREM and REM states in memory consolidation.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Creative thought relies on the reorganisation of existing knowledge. Sleep is known to be important for creative thinking, but there is a debate about which sleep stage is most relevant, and why. We address this issue by proposing that rapid eye movement sleep, or 'REM', and non-REM sleep facilitate creativity in different ways. Memory replay mechanisms in non-REM can abstract rules from corpuses of learned information, while replay in REM may promote novel associations. We propose that the iterative interleaving of REM and non-REM across a night boosts the formation of complex knowledge frameworks, and allows these frameworks to be restructured, thus facilitating creative thought. We outline a hypothetical computational model which will allow explicit testing of these hypotheses.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.