Twenty out of twenty-four people managed to discover a mathematical rule that they had not identified before. They had one thing in common: during a break they entered the most superficial phase of sleep for a few moments. To interrupt the rest, the researchers used a rather rudimentary alarm clock. A small plastic bottle held between the fingers.
The experiment, conducted by the Paris Brain Institute and the Sorbonne, revived an old trick attributed to Thomas Edison and also associated with figures such as Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein and Salvador Dalí: falling asleep with an object in your hand and letting the sound of its fall interrupt sleep in its tracks. A system which, according to tradition, would allow intuitions and mental images to be captured before they vanish.
The study published on Science Advances found an interesting association: 83% of participants who had reached the N1 stage of sleep discovered the hidden solution to a problem, compared to about 31% of those who remained awake. A notable difference, especially considering that just a few seconds of sleep were enough.
The falling object trick: from Edison to Salvador Dalí
The principle is simple. You sit in an armchair, leave one hand slightly protruding from the armrest and hold an object between your fingers. When we begin to fall asleep, the muscles relax. The grip loosens, the object slips and the sound of the fall brings us back to wakefulness.
The objective is to intercept the hypnagogic state, that short interval between wakefulness and sleep during which spontaneous images, apparently disconnected memories and unusual associations can appear. According to a widespread story, Thomas Edison used metal spheres that he dropped when he began to doze. The noise would wake him early enough for him to note down any insights.
Salvador Dalí had a variant of his own. In the book 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanshippublished in 1948 and also remembered by the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, the painter described a technique called slumber with a keysleep with a key. He sat in an armchair, held a large key between his fingers and placed a plate on the floor. As soon as the key fell, the noise woke him up. At that point he tried to recover the images that emerged while he was falling asleep.
A small bottle and 103 volunteers: the scientists’ experiment
To test whether the initial phase of sleep could promote intuitions, French researchers involved 103 healthy young adults, subjecting them to a numerical task. The volunteers had to work out sequences of eight digits by applying some rules. A repetitive exercise, with a peculiarity: there was a shortcut that allowed you to get to the answer much faster.
The participants, however, were not informed of this. After an initial series of tests, 16 people had already identified the hidden rule and were excluded from subsequent analyses. The others spent twenty minutes in a dark room, sitting in a semi-reclining position, with their eyes closed.
They all held a small plastic bottle in their right hand. If she fell, they should immediately tell what they were thinking or imagining. Meanwhile, scientists monitored brain activity through polysomnography, a technique that allows the recording of various physiological parameters during sleep. The results showed a considerable difference.
Among the 24 participants who had only reached stage N1, 20 discovered the hidden rule. In the group of 49 people who remained awake, only 15 succeeded. Among the 14 volunteers who had reached the slightly deeper N2 phase, the solution was identified by just two people. Precisely this comparison attracted the attention of scientists: the greatest advantage seemed to be concentrated in the very first phase of sleep, before the brain fell asleep more deeply.
Those 15 seconds between wakefulness and sleep that can favor an intuition
According to the researchers, spending at least 15 seconds in the N1 phase was also associated with a greater likelihood of spotting the hidden rule. This phase is particularly interesting because the brain begins to disconnect from external stimuli, while retaining some characteristics of wakefulness.
Anyone who is woken up at this time may even have the sensation of never having fallen asleep. Yet, in the meantime, the mind may have produced images, thoughts and associations that were not present a few moments before. The experiment also showed a curious detail: the insights didn’t necessarily come during nap time. Participants who discovered the hidden rule took an average of 94 more attempts after the break to recognize it.
Furthermore, the content of the images and thoughts reported during falling asleep was not directly linked to the ability to solve the problem. What seemed to favor intuition above all was the passage through that particular brain condition. The researchers also observed the behavior of the bottle. Its fall often coincided with the accumulation of very short episodes of sleep and the noise caused awakening, helping participants not to slip into deeper phases.
The old expedient attributed to Edison had therefore also found its use in the laboratory: it allowed us to interrupt falling asleep just as the brain crossed that border area between sleep and wakefulness. The authors consider these results promising, while acknowledging that further experiments will be needed to understand how much the falling object method directly contributes to intuitions.
How to try the creative nap trick at home
To experiment with a home version of the method, simply choose a comfortable armchair, place one arm on the armrest and leave your hand slightly protruding. You can hold a small, light, smooth, unbreakable object between your fingers that is large enough not to get caught in your fist. Below, a surface on which it can fall making noise.
The French researchers had tried different tools, including spoons, metal balls and anti-stress objects, before choosing a plastic container weighing just 55 grams. The choice responded to very specific needs: the object had to be comfortable to hold, slide easily and make enough noise to interrupt sleep.
Before the break, you can spend a few minutes on the problem you are working on. Then you sit down, close your eyes and let sleep come spontaneously, without forcing it. When the object falls, you can write down the thoughts that have just emerged or resume the activity left pending.
Of course, without monitoring brain activity we cannot know whether we have truly reached the N1 phase. Furthermore, the method was studied through a specific mathematical exercise: the results do not guarantee the same benefit for any type of creative activity. After all, even the participants who found the shortcut had to continue thinking after the nap. The bottle had woken them up, it hadn’t solved the problem for them.
