See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301350667 Sleep and creativity: a literature review. Chapter · June 2015 DOI: 10.5682/9786062803797 CITATION READS 1 993 9 authors, including: Rui Marguilho Saul Neves de Jesus Universidade do Algarve Universidade do Algarve 6 PUBLICATIONS 4 CITATIONS 209 PUBLICATIONS 740 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE João Nuno Viseu Rita B Domingues Universidade do Algarve Universidade do Algarve 54 PUBLICATIONS 101 CITATIONS 100 PUBLICATIONS 670 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Bottom-up regulation of phytoplankton in the Guadiana estuary View project Psychology and coastal hazards View project All content following this page was uploaded by Nathália Brandolim Becker on 18 April 2016. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Advanced Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences: Towards a better practice Chapter XIII SLEEP AND CREATIVITY: A LITERATURE REVIEW RUI MARGUILHO 1, SAUL NEVES DE JESUS 2, JOÃO VISEU 3, RITA B. DOMINGUES 4, NATHÁLIA BRANDOLIM BECKER 5, RAFAELA DIAS MATAVELLI 6, RAUL QUEVEDO 7, GUALBERTO BUELA-CASAL 8 1 University of Algarve, Portugal, [email protected] 2 University of Algarve, Portugal, [email protected] 3 University of Algarve, Portugal, [email protected] 4 University of Algarve, Portugal, [email protected] 5 University of Algarve, Portugal, [email protected] 6 University of Algarve, Portugal, [email protected] 7 University of Granada, Spain, [email protected] 8 University of Granada, Spain, [email protected] Note: This paper is supported by FCT (CIEO – Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, University of Algarve, Portugal) Abstract: Sleep and creativity have been widely studied in the field of psychology, being essential to understand human behavior. However, the relationship between these variables has not been examined through a systematic literature review. The aim of this study was to realize a review of the studies that related sleep and creativity. Thus, we performed a survey of the studies conducted between 1990 and 2014, which were published in journals indexed in the major electronic databases, in particular EBSCO and Web of Science (WoS). We analyzed 1258 papers that respected the search criteria and were selected by combining the keywords “sleep” and “creativity”. Of these, 94 articles met the criteria concerning the relationship between sleep aspects and types of creativity or creative thinking. From the abovementioned articles, we picked 11 studies respecting the inclusion criteria. The obtained results indicate a positive relationship between sleep and creativity, nevertheless it was observed a significant variability in terms of sleep constructs and creativity dimensions. Although we can affirm that there is a positive relationship between these constructs, we must recognize the limits of this statement. Key-words : creativity, sleep, systematic literature review. INTRODUCTION the sense organs, however it is an active Sleep is a complex behavioral state and one brain state (Pace-Schott & Hobson, 2002). of the greatest mysteries of modern One of the most important contributions of neuroscience (Rechtschaffen & Bergmann, sleep is the development of new synapses 2002). Yet, the latest approaches and and memory consolidation (Ashworth, Hill, techniques are already able to describe and Karmiloff-Smith, & Dimitriou, 2014). interpret many of its’ biological mechanisms Indeed, sleep consolidates recent memories (Carter et al., 2012), providing not only a and, at the same time, allows implicit description of the sleeping conditions, but information processing by changing its’ also of the processes that lead to a good representational structure (Diekelmann & quality of sleep (Miró, Cano-Lozano, & Born, 2010). Buela-Casal, 2005). During sleep, the brain Consolidation theory suggests that, through does not process the information received by sleep, both learning and memory processing 131 Sibiu, Romania, June 2015 benefit creativity, and new memories are high competitive work environments have favored by memory representations turned creativity into a valuable asset and reactivated, becoming stronger, more robust, research theme, despite its’ complex nature and preserved in a long period of time (Starko, 2010). (Marrone, Schaner, McNaughton, Worley, & The main goal of this study was to provide a Barnes, 2008; Oudiette et al., 2011). Rapid literature summary regarding the relationship eye movement (REM) sleep, in particular, between sleep and creativity. To our increases the creative process more than any knowledge, this is the first literature review other sleep phase, helping the formation of relating these constructs. We also aimed to new associative networks in the brain and suggest paths for future research on sleep useful connections between ideas, working and creativity. as an enabler for creativity (Cai, Mednick, Harrison, Kanady, & Mednick, 2009). Both METHOD scientists and artists have suggested that Data Sources sleep facilitates creativity (Ritter, Strick, Bos, The selection of studies was conducted in Van Baaren, & Dijksterhuis, 2012). January 2015 focused on the papers The direct relationships between sleep and published between 1990 and 2014, using the creativity have rarely been addressed, but electronic databases Web of Science (WoS) studies relating sleep to cognitive skills, such and EBSCO. The inclusion criteria defined as memory and motivation, suggested that were: (a) English, French, Spanish, and sleep may directly influence learning and the Portuguese as publication languages; (b) formation of new concepts, ideas, or studies published in peer-reviewed scientific solutions, in other words it leads to the journals; and (c) presence of the necessary development of creativity (Marguilho, Jesus, data to analyze what has been studied and Viseu, Rus, & Brandolim, 2014). how it was studied. The keywords used to An individual can state that he is in the conduct the search were: (a) “sleep” and presence of creativity when something new “creativity”; (b) “sleep” and “creative”; and is produced, whether it is a product, a (c) “sleep intervention” and “creativity”. The decision, a process, or an insight. Wagner, studies included in the literature review and Gais, Haider, Verleger, and Born (2004) cited in the present manuscript are identified reinforced this idea. They affirmed that sleep with an asterisk (*) in the references section. consolidates recent memories and, in consequence, develops a new insight over a Procedure problem, allowing a change in the structural Search results were coded to facilitate representation of the subject. For instance, comparisons using the following criteria: (a) Healey and Runco (2006) observed that author; (b) year; (c) sample size; (d) sample children were able to learn a new task and type (i.e., children, adolescents, adults, and improve their performance after a sleep the elderly); (e) type of creativity (i.e., period. This learning process also involves product, process, person, and situation); (f) other aspects, such as motivation and certain type of sleep (i.e., quality, insomnia, REM aspects of personality (Jesus, Rus, Lens, & sleep, and dreams); and (g) type of study. Imaginário, 2013). The taxonomy of Montero and León (2007) Nowadays, creativity is recognized as an was applied for the studies’ classification. In urgent transdisciplinar and transcultural the first stage, 1258 articles were selected. requirement (Kaufman & Sternberg, 2006). After reading the abstracts, only studies A growing research interest in creativity has containing empirical data on the relationship been observed in recent years, most likely between sleep and creativity were because this concept is the most effective considered. Afterwards, a full reading of the and natural answer to the world’s increasing documents allowed choosing those that complexity (Runco, 2004). Innovation, new contained relevant statistical information. In solutions and decisions, better education, and 132 Advanced Research in Health, Education and Social Sciences: Towards a better practice a third step, we assessed the occurrence of methodological approach was the same in all repeated studies. studies. They presented empirical characteristics and correlation values that RESULTS could be subject to objective analysis and Theoretically, we confirmed that the selected comparison. After the first selection, we studies were based on identical assumptions. identified 1258 articles. The selection of The characterization of sleep had the same abstracts reduced our sample to 94 studies, approach, although there were differences in which were read taking into consideration relation to: (a) sleep stage analyzed; (b) sleep the criteria: (a) type of study; (b) type of quantity/quality; and (c) sample; (c) variable of sleep and instrument; morningness/eveningness factors. Also, in (d) variable of creativity and instrument; and creativity, we found differences in the (e) internal consistency analysis and studied aspects, some studies focused on the statistical indicator. This analysis retrieved (a) creative process; (b) creative personality; 13 articles, of these, 2 were rejected because and (c) product creation. The selection they referred to the same sample. A total of criterion was to not discriminate between 11 articles, identified by an asterisk in the these factors,