Psychology: Sleep and Intelligence (Learning, Memory)

Although we are exposed to potential attackers in sleep, sleep is one of evolution's winners.
But what's happening during sleep?
Why does our brain need to sleep?
Recent studies (e.g. Ji and Wilson, 2007) support the hypothesis of a replay of experiences during sleep. By repeating experiences of the day memory contents can be (re-)structured and solidified.
But not only our memory seems to benefit from excursions into the realm of dreams. In particular, the results of some sleep deprivation experiments (e.g. Lo et al., 2012), point to the importance of a healthy sleep on cognitive performance (continuous attention, working memory, etc.).
Furthermore: In particular in light of the circadian rhythm arises the question: When should a business day (or school day) begin?

Keywords:
Sleep Research - Sleep - Intelligence - Why we don't we fall out of bed? - Perception in the sleep - waking up when one's name is called - selective perception - EEG - brain is very active at night - REM - Why do we sleep? - Why do we dream? - Sleepwalking - Jules Lowe - Murder during sleepwalking - Psychoanalytic explanations - I, It, superego - dreams with sexually colored content (1/10 in males; 1/30 in women) - during sleep learned content is played through again (replay or remix) - learning: law of repetition - memory traces - fluid intelligence - reasoning - working memory - executive functions - attention control - lack of sleep - sleep deprivation - Thomas Edison - investigation by the Gallup Institute: Compared to 1942 people sleep (almost) one hour less - Flynn effect - better food - better education opportunities - computer games late into the night - ADHD - circadian rhythm - 6-7 o'clock slump - later school starts may be better - psychology - sleep research

Author: Eskil Burck