One of the most fascinating aspects of the unconscious mind is the way in which it can solve problems while the conscious mind is occupied with other matters. Many examples of unconscious problem-solving come from everyday situations, but there are also well-documented cases where these processes have led to important scientific breakthroughs and artistic inspiration.
We are all familiar with the ‘tip of the tongue’ phenomenon. We can’t remember a name despite thinking hard about it, but the name suddenly springs to trend later on when we are doing something else. Many of us also solve problems when we dream. Consider the following example: Clive moved house, but after unpacking, he couldn’t find his watch anywhere. He kept looking. But without success. One night, he tried an experiment: he visualized the watch in all its detail before falling asleep. That night, he had a dream in which he was wearing an old jacket. The next morning, he went to his wardrobe and checked the jacket’s pockets. Sure enough, the watch was there. His conscious efforts at remembering where the watch was had been fruitless, but his unconscious mind solved the problem for him.
Ring of dreams
Several famous scientists and inventors have solved problems through their dreams. Perhaps the best-known case was German chemist Friedr ich Kekule, who attempted to elucidate the chemical structure of benzene in the 1860s. Kekule knew that benzene was an organic compound – that is, one made up of linked carbon atoms; he also knew its formula, but its structure – the way the atoms were linked together – remained an enigma. This is Kekul’s story, in his own words: ‘I was sitting writing in my textbook, but the work did not progress; my thoughts were elsewhere. [ turned my chair to the fire and dozed. The atoms were gambling before my eyes. My mental eye, rendered more acute by repeated visions of the kind, could now distinguish larger structures of manifold conformation: long rows sometimes more closely fitted together, all twining and twisting in snake-like motion. But look1 What was that? One of the snakes had seized hold of its tail, and the form whirled mockingly before my eyes. As if by a flash of lightning, I awoke, and this time also, I spent the rest of the night working out the consequences of the hypothesis.’
Inspired by his dream, Keku wondered whether the benzene molecule was ring-shaped – like the snake holding its tail. When he tested out his idea, he found that it fitted all the known facts about benzene and its chemical nature; his discovery was an enormous step in the development of organic chemistry.
Medical inspiration
Dream inspiration also played a significant part in research in the 1920s on the role of insulin in the human body. The Canadian physician Frederick Banting literally dreamed up the experimental technique that led him to establish the relationship between sugar and insulin. Even more remarkably, another dream led him to the idea that insulin extracted from animals could be used to treat human diabetes. Banting was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1923 for his life-saving achievements in medicine.
Another instance of unconscious problem-solving led to a technological breakthrough at the laboratories of industrial giant DuPont. A researcher, Floyd Ragsdale, was developing machines to manufacture Kevlar fiber, used in bullet proof vests. The equipment then used was unreliable and costly. Ragsdale had a dream about springs inserted into the tubes of the existing machines. He reported this to his boss, who was skeptical about the idea. Nevertheless, Rasdale persisted and inserted springs into the tubes; the resulting equipment worked much better and saved his company more than $3 million.
Dreams don’t always provide the right answer the first time. German physiologist Otto Loewi’s dream.ed about an experiment with frogs that seemed to tell him that nervous impulses had a chemical rather than electrical basis. He awoke in the middle of the night and noted down his idea, but when he read it the next morning, it made no sense. Fortunately, the next night, the dream. Recurred; this time, he woke and went straight to the laboratory. The insight helped lead Loewi to the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1936.
A new way to sew
The development of the automatic sewing machine owes much to a dream made by American inventor Elias Howe (1819- 1867). An ordinary sewing needle has its hole at the opposite end to the point, but How could not make this work when trying to automate the process? Then, one night, he dreamed about a tribe who threatened him with spears that had a loop just behind the spear hea9. He then saw the breakthrough of putting the hole near the tip of the needle.
Famous Dreamers
It is not only scientists and inventors who have benefited from unconscious problem-solving; many artists and musicians have been inspired by dreams, too.
- Mendeleyev saw a complete layout of the chemicals in the Periodic Table in a dream.
- Herschel dreamed about the planet now known as Uranus in a dream before he discovered it.
- Edison, an inventor with more than 1000 patents to his name, sometimes slept at his workbench holding weights in his hands: when the weights fell, they would wake him, and he would recall his dreams – often leading to new inventions.
- Salvador Dali produced many of his images from dreams. He used to deliberately deprive himself of sleep in order to induce dream-like states and visions that drew upon his unconscious mind.
- Beethoven, Wagner, and Stravinsky all heard music – ranging from fragments to entire canons – in their dreams.
- Bob Dylan wrote songs based on what he heard in his dreams.
