Researchers steer dreams with sound cues, boost problem-solving - and raise ad concerns

Scientists have demonstrated that carefully timed sound cues can steer dream content and improve problem-solving abilities, raising both exciting possibilities for cognitive enhancement and concerning questions about future dream-based advertising.

Dream manipulation through targeted memory reactivation

Researchers at Northwestern University's Paller Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory used a technique called targeted memory reactivation (TMR) to influence what participants dreamed about and, in some cases, help them solve puzzles they couldn't crack while awake.

The study involved 20 participants who were presented with puzzles paired with specific audio cues while awake. Later, as they slept, researchers played the sounds associated with puzzles they hadn't solved, hoping to trigger dream content related to those problems.

The results were striking: among the 12 participants whose dreams incorporated the cued puzzles, solving rates doubled from 20 percent to 40 percent the following day. While still not a majority, this represents a statistically significant improvement that suggests dreams can indeed be harnessed for problem-solving.

Lucid dreaming not required

Interestingly, the dream manipulation worked even without participants being lucid - consciously aware they were dreaming and able to control the dream content. The researchers had specifically recruited people with prior lucid-dreaming experience because they're better able to control dream content and search for insight while asleep.

"Even without lucidity, one dreamer asked a dream character for help solving the puzzle we were cueing," said lead author Karen Konkoly. "The results showed how dreamers can follow instructions, and dreams can be influenced by sounds during sleep, even without lucidity."

Limitations and unanswered questions

The study, while promising, comes with important caveats. The sample size was small - only 20 participants - and the researchers acknowledge significant limitations in their approach.

"This study design did not allow us to disentangle whether creativity is an inherent function of dreaming versus whether this benefit emerges when combined with pre-sleep intention," the team noted in their paper. They also couldn't rule out demand characteristics since participants knew the study's purpose.

The advertising angle

The research naturally raises questions about whether similar techniques could be used for commercial purposes. Could companies someday influence what consumers dream about to promote their products?

The answer appears to be yes - and it's already been attempted. In 2021, Molson Coors Beverage Company launched what it called the "Coors Dream Project" as an alternative to traditional Super Bowl advertising.

The campaign directed users to a website featuring visual and audio stimuli, including an eight-hour soundscape designed to play while participants slept. Coors claimed this would "shape and compel your subconscious... to dream the Coors Big Game ad."

According to the company, trial runs successfully led volunteers to dream about "refreshing streams, mountains, waterfalls, and even Coors itself." The brewer said it was using targeted dream incubation, a technique also mentioned in the Northwestern researchers' prior work.

Privacy and consent concerns

While such dream manipulation techniques aren't yet sophisticated enough to be deployed at scale without detection - they would require hijacking internet-connected devices to play trigger sounds during sleep - the possibility raises serious ethical questions.

The Northwestern team's work demonstrates that dreams can be influenced by external stimuli, even without the dreamer's conscious awareness. As the technology advances, society will need to grapple with questions about consent, privacy, and the boundaries of commercial influence in our subconscious minds.

For now, the researchers' findings offer exciting possibilities for enhancing creativity and problem-solving through sleep. But they also serve as a reminder that as our understanding of the dreaming mind grows, so too does the potential for its exploitation. The line between helpful cognitive enhancement and manipulative advertising may prove thinner than we imagine.