Everyone I know of that has played the game Tetris, also have had Tetris
Dreams. Even though you're asleep, you just keep on stacking
those blocks on top of each other, making entire rows disappear. I very
seldom play the game, but I have learned to use it as a sleeping pill; instead
of counting sheep, I play Tetris in my head. And now, Scientific American
reports of a study made by Robert Stickgold that uses Tetris Dreams to
confirm the idea that the brain uses dreaming to reinforce learning. It
turns out that 60% of the participants in the test group reported Tetris
Dreams.
There were several interesting results from this study, which does confirm
old and reveal new knowledge about how the brain learns. For instance, Tetris
Dreams were more frequent after the second night after playing the game than
after the first. This implies that the brain really wants to be sure that it
will have to learn this crazy new thing. Also, people who were Tetris novices
reported the most dreams, and they were also more likely to see Tetris images
during sleep onset, because their brain felt it needed more time with this than
the expert players did. Furthermore, a group of amnesiacs were included in the
group and though they were Tetris novices and had no memory of having played the
game the day before, they still placed the fingers in the correct playing
position before the game started ! Your brain will remember things you don't.
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