American researchers from MIT have have managed to develop a device, called Dormio, which helps guide dreams. Its goal is to improve creativity, even learning.

Dream control has never felt so close. American researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a device that helps guide dreams. Thanks to an app and a sleep tracking sensor, they managed to direct the dreams of the participants in order to develop their creativity. They published their results in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.

Hypnagogy

The researchers targeted specific times in the earliest stage of sleep, called hypnagogia. In this phase of sleep, humans are able to hear sounds while falling asleep. This is precisely why the researchers aimed at hypnagogy to enrich the creativity of the participants. “Dream incubation is linked to performance benefits on three creativity tests,” says Adam Haar Horowitz, co-author of the study. Dreaming on a specific theme seems to offer benefits after sleep. ” By targeting this theme, researchers are thus able to guide and direct dreams.

The technology developed to guide dreams is called Dormio. It allows you to repeat audio signals during hypnagogy. This conveys information to the sleeping patient while they are dreaming and “increases mental wandering [to] make it immersive,” adds Adam Haar Horowitz, co-author of the study. The patient would then have the impression of being “pushed and pulled by new sensations, like your body floating and falling, your thoughts quickly registering and getting out of control”, describes the researcher.

Open source technology

Researchers believe that beyond the development of creativity, this device improves the quality of sleep and promotes falling asleep while consolidating memory. “The potential value of Dormio in enhancing learning and creativity is literally mind-boggling,” says Robert Stickgold, co-author of the study. This technology is open source and can therefore be available to everyone to test it at home.