In the article, Why We Dream, Neuroscientist Mark Solms explains the many reasons that people dream. It has been concluded that dreams are full of meaning and in some cases, can predict the future. Solms believes that instead of sleep causing the dreams, dreaming is what might possibly allow us to even sleep. While we are sleeping, dreams keep our brain temporarily occupied. After conducting and researching many studies, scientists have also concluded that dreams are very similar to hallucinations.
According to the Activation-synthesis theory, REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain weaves into stories. According to the Cognitive development theory, dream content reflects a dreamers' cognitive development-their knowledge and understanding.
The article “The Science Behind Dreaming” from Scientific American by Sander van der Linden, gave us a little insight on why we dream. On average, you experience around 150,000 normal dreams by the age of 70. This does not include the occasional nightmare. There is no proven fact on why we dream what we dream. However, there were and still are a lot of theorists out there that believe our sub-conscious dreams are connected to our unconscious wishes.
Outline Introduction I. Attention-Getter: Have you ever thought why we dream and if there is any real meaning to what we dream? II. Central Idea: There are several theories of why we dream and the meaning related to our dreams. III.
The theory about dreams that seems most reasonable to me was the theory presented by Sigmund Freud. His theory was based on his opinion that dreams can be used for self awareness, enable us to access the unconscious, and to make connections between our actions in dreams and the problems that we face when we are in wakefulness. His theory also focuses on the manifest content, the specific storyline, and the latent content, the hidden meaning, of our dreams. With this, Freud could try to uncover a hidden meaning or detail in our lives from the content of our dreams. This seems most reasonable to me because at night, when we are alone, we are able to reflect on our true selves.
I truly enjoyed this experiment, even though it showed me the ugly truth about myself. My dream theory is similar to the information processing theory and part of my own. The information processing theory says that dreams are a review of our daily lives and we create scenarios that we dramatize in our minds. We use information that we have accumulated and our memories.
In my experience with this dream project I have been able to decide on a dream theory that I believe describes dreaming in a very accurate way. The activation synthesis theory is quite intriguing to me and is quite logical. It states that your bodies circuits in the brain become active during REM sleep, which causes areas of the limbic system that take care of emotions and memories to become active. During this time your body tries to interpret these electrical impulse caused by all of this. Your body will interpret this in its own creative way.
The theory on the meaning of dreams is so complex it can a subject of study by itself. I believe that dreams have a unique purpose for us than what we know. So, for educational purposes I would say that I agree more with number two and number three. Both theories encompass elements of what I think dreams do for me. Sometimes I think we force certain types of dreams while other times the mind release tension from suppressed thoughts that are harboring.
There are five theories that were developed that helps to explain the reason as to why we dream. They are wish fulfillment, information processing, psychological function, activation synthesis, and cognitive development. The Wish Fulfillment theory suggests that the reason why we dream is to fulfill wishes that would be considered strange in reality. The information processing theory suggests that we dream to reorganize information and events from the recent day. The psychological function theory suggests that REM sleep helps to develop and preserve neural pathways.
Dreams are thoughts, emotions and the images shaped by them, which are encountered when asleep. One has dreams during the rapid eye movement. Various theories on dream interpretations exist but the real purpose of dreams is still unknown. Dreams are closely associated with human psychology. Have you ever woke up in the morning feeling restless after tossing around all night long dreaming?
There are plenty of times when we awake from a dream and think to ourselves, “why did I just dream that?!” Sometimes these dreams are so vivid and feel so real, we even awake thinking we had actually experienced it or maybe it was a terrible nightmare, whatever it may have been, we can’t help to wonder why it was dreamt. So what exactly are dreams? The definition of a dream is, images, thoughts, sounds and voices and subjected sensation experienced while sleeping, but does it go deeper than that? There are many scientists who believe dreaming serves a far greater purpose than just a weird scenario in your head while you sleep.
They all stem from each other, creating what is known today. There are many questions to be acknowledged still, but for now, the facts have shown only sleep cycle patterns and where dreams lay amongst those, eye movements while dreaming, and opinion-based assumptions as to why people have certain types of dreams. Dreams are an amazing subject because the mind runs wild even while sleeping. Dreaming is a powerful experience with only vague answers in place. Transitioning into a deep sleep, allowing the mind to wander into an imaginative world, is what dreaming is.
The brain works in fascinating ways and controls everything, when the body is conscious and even asleep. For my theme I chose the psychology of dreaming. Dreams have always interested me by reason of it is a different experience for everyone. Throughout time, people have looked at their dreams for information about their health and the unseen world of the human soul, mind, or spirit. They additionally uncover genuine emotions about occasions throughout somebody's life.
Many people have different ideas as to why we have dreams and their meanings behind them. It is said that the Greeks and Romans were convinced to believe that dreams could predict the future, but now there are many theories on whether dream actually mean something or not (Atherton). A theory introduced by Harvard University psychiatrists, John Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley started, “Dreams don 't actually mean anything. Instead they are merely electrical brain impulses that pull random thoughts and imagery from our memories. The theory suggests that humans construct dream stories after they wake up.
An average person spends approximately 25 years sleeping, which means that one third of our life we dream. This shows that sleeping and experiencing dreams is a significant part of our life, which we most of the time do not fully realize (Artis, L.Tick Tock). A significant interest exists among humans not only nowadays but also in the past. Even philosophers in the past centuries as for example Sigmund Freud had been occupied with dreams in association with their occurrence, meanings and connection to the individual human being (Windt, J. Dreams and Dreaming). Every person is dreaming even though not everyone remembers.
