Chapter 7 Dreams

Dreams and REM Sequence of images, emotions and thoughts passing through a sleeping person’s mind We know that there is a link between dreams and REM Vivid, emotional and bizarre We may confuse them with reality We can even be aware enough in a dream to wonder if we are dreaming Even blind people can experience visual imagery in dreams

Dream Content 6 years of our lives are spent in dreams 8 in 10 dreams are marked by negative emotions We usually dream of events in our daily lives Story line of our dreams is called their manifest content (Freud) Often previous day’s experiences and preoccupations Sensory stimuli in our sleeping environment can also enter our dreams

Why Do We Dream? Several Theories – Satisfy Wishes Interpretation of Dreams, Freud Discharges otherwise unacceptable feelings Express latent content that we cannot otherwise express Freud believed most dreams could be traced back to erotic wishes – Gun represented a penis

Why Do We Dream? – Inner Conflicts Freud believed that dreams helped us understand inner conflicts This has been disproven Even if dreams are symbolic, they could be interpreted any way that one wished Other maintain that dreams hide NOTHING – Filing System Help us sift and sort through the day’s experiences Information processing REM facilitates memory

Why Do We Dream? – Filing System…Continued After a good night of sleep we better remember a task that we have learned Memory consolidation We learn things again during REM Students who sleep more have better grades – Neural Pathways Dreams may serve to provide the sleeping brain with periodic stimulation Which increases neural pathways

Why Do We Dream? – Neural Static Dreams erupt from neural activity that erupts from the brainstem Activation-synthesis theory Neural activity is random, so the brain is trying to make sense of it Visual cortex is stimulated Emotion-related limbic system also stimulated (amygdala) Frontal lobes are idle, remember they are responsible for inhibition and logical thinking

Why Do We Dream? – Cognitive Development Part of the brains maturation and cognitive development function Kids dream in slide shows and as we learn more (speech, etc.) they are integrated into our dreams

Dreams Are Necessary No matter what theory people believe, all believe that we need dreams REM Rebound – REM sleep increases when we are deprived of it (by being woken during REM) Animals (mammals) have REM and need it too – which suggest a biological need Fish don’t dream (that we know of) so does that mean it is information processing?