The quiet rest and non-REM sleep groups showed no improvement in their test results, but the REM sleep group improved on their morning performance by an average of almost 40 per cent.

对于分别进行简单休息和无快速眼动睡眠小憩的两组参与者，他们实验结果并没有任何进步；而进入快速眼动睡眠的一组测试者，他们早上的测试成绩提高了近40%。

Dr Sara Mednick, a sleep researcher at the University of California in San Diego who led the study, believes that the formation of connections between previously unassociated information in the brain – which leads to creative problem-solving – is encouraged by neurological changes which occur during REM sleep.

该研究负责人，加州大学圣地亚哥分校睡眠研究员萨拉•梅德尼克认为，大脑把之前储存的信息联系在一起，并最终形成创造性的解决问题的方案，这整个过程的催化剂便是快速眼动睡眠中发生的神经变化。

Scientists have been working on connections between sleep, dreams and brain activity since the REM state was first identified in 1953 by US researchers.

自1953年美国研究人员首次确认快速眼动睡眠状态以来，科学家一直致力于研究睡眠、梦境以及大脑活动三者之间的联系。