Chapter 7Dreams

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?