Although we cannot interact with the environment while asleep, our brains continue to process incoming stimuli. Here, individuals classified spoken words into categories (such as animals or objects) during the transition to sleep. The authors found that the neural activity patterns associated with this task — which represented selection of and preparation for a motor response — continued when asleep individuals were exposed to the words. Thus, goal-directed processing of sensory stimuli can continue to the point of response preparation during sleep.