1. By: Davin-Kyle Thompson Aaron Lagana Matthew Kiprovski
Dream World Webquest
By: Davin-Kyle Thompson
Aaron Lagana
Matthew Kiprovski

2. Dream Theories: Sigmund Freud’s Theory of Dreams
Sigmund Freud suggests that dreams are a representation of unconscious wishes and desires
These can be either sexual or violent in nature
All dreams, no matter how bizarre, serve a purpose
These dreams must be studied to understand a person

3. Dream Theories: Activation-Synthesis Theory
First proposed by John Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley
This theory states that dreams don’t serve a purpose at all, but rather are rather nuerual firings from the brainstem during REM sleep
To keep us asleep and not wake us up after every impulse, our cerebral cortex associates certain dreams with certain impulses

4. Dream Theories: St. Francis Crick’s Theory of Dreams
According to Francis Crick, dreams are just mental garbage
Every day, we encounter many things and a lot of major and minor events occur
At the end of the day, when we dream, we go through these events and we separate them into “wanted” and “unwanted” categories
We tend to weaken the synaptic connections of our unwanted memories, going through a process of “reverse learning”
This strengthens our memory of the events that we actually want to remember

5. Why do dreams occur?
According to Freud, dreams occur so we can fulfill our unconcious desires
Do things we wouldn’t normally be able to do
Activation-Synthesis theory suggests that neural firings cause dreams, associating certain images with certain neural impulses
Francis Crick states that dreams occur to “reverse learn” unwanted memories, strengthening our wanted memories

6. What occurs physiologically when we dream?
Freud’s theory states less about what happens physiologically when we dream and more with what happens unconciously
He called dreams “the royal road to the unconcious”
According to activation-synthesis theory, the brainstem fires off random neural impulses during REM sleep, and the cerebral cortex associates images with the firings, causing dreams
According to Francis Crick, during dreams we weaken synaptic connections in our brains for unwanted memories, which in turn causes us to remember more important things

7. What purpose do dreams serve?
Freud says dreams serve as ways to fulfill unconscious desires, allowing us to do things we always wanted to do
Activation-synthesis theory states that dreams serve no purpose at all and are just the random neural firings
Francis Crick’s theory goes with the assumption that dreams serve to distinguish our unwanted and our wanted memories and to help us keep the wanted ones

8. Can you explain why many people report dreaming of experiences which they have recently encountered
Fruedian theory may suggest that people may have certain wishes about certain daily events, and can only fulfill them in dreams
People wish a day at school or a job goes a certain way
Activation-synthesis cannot explain this; it states all dreams are just the random firings
Francis Crick’s whole theory is based on recently encountered experiences and choosing which ones we want to remember in the end

9. Is there any way in which the content or meaning of dreams could be scientifically studied?

10. Do dreams have universal meanings?
Freud says

11. Do people dream in color?
People do dream in color; most do not realize it, however
If you are more noticeable and appreciative of colors when awake, it’s easier to notice color in dreams