Dreams and
dreaming
Dreams
basics
 We all dream, at least if we are healthy,
though some never remember
 And even they can be taught
 The amygdala (emotion) often active
 REM can take place without dreaming
 We don’t need REM to dream, but such
dreams are usually much more mundane
Rem dreams
 Often quite bizarre
 Full of visual imagery, sounds and intense
emotion
 Prompted by brain structures associated
with motivation, emotion, and reward and
then spun through our potent visual
association areas
 No access to reflective thought or reality
What, if anything, do
they mean?
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Do they foretell the future?
Do they reflect wishes unfulfilled?
Can they diagnose illnesses?
Do they have any adaptive value?
Should we ever be ashamed of our dreams?
Common dreams
 They often relate to current concerns
 They often involve things that could go
wrong
 Frequent themes:
falling
being chased
naked in public
sex
Perspectives on
dreaming
 Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of
Dreams (1900)
 Struck by how often clients described them
 Viewed them as indispensable to
understanding personality – “The royal road
to the unconscious.”
More Freud
 Analyzed his own
 Viewed them as symbolic, with two levels of
meaning
 Manifest content – their apparent meaning
 Latent meaning – their hidden, real meaning
 We censor our real desires
 Carl Jung viewed as a progression
Carlos castenada
 70’s sensation
 A shaman’s apprentice?
 His best selling books focused attention on
the conscious manipulation of the dream
state, done to gain personal power
 Better known as lucid dreaming
 Fact or fiction?
 As for Carlos,…..
Dreams and
creativity
 Some believe that dreams can help us solve
difficult problems
 Focus on this puzzle before you fall asleep:
The letters o t t f f form the start of an infinite
series. Find a simple rule for determining all
successive letters. According to this rule what
would the next two letters be?
Activationsynthesis theory
 Dreams arise when the pons sends random
signals to the cerebral cortex during REM
sleep
 The cerebral cortex than tries to tie these
together into some sort of a coherent tale by
comparing these neuronal firings with stored
memories
Neurocognitive
theory
 Dreams are a type of thinking that happens
under special conditions
 Three factors:
cortical activity
little sensory stimulation
loss of control over thinking
 This combination leads to a situation where
emotions and imagination run wild
Neurocog ii
 Systematic studies reveal that people
usually dream about things they are
concerned about
 Cognitive maturity facilitates dreaming
 Finally, this theory claims that dreams lack
any adaptive value, they are just a curious
by-product of our cognitive capabilities
Dream diaries
 To best remember dreams:
Every night tell yourself that you will
remember your dreams
Keep your diary right by your bed
Write them down immediately
Tell someone else
Keep track of life events
Record your interpretations
A dream before
dying
 Many have noted the profound dreams
people often experience shortly before
death
 Rev. Patricia Bulkey, a chaplain for a
hospice, has collected a number of these
 Her work has noted common themes:
going on journeys
reunions with deceased loved ones
Before dying ii
 Strangely, although the dreams often point
to the inevitability and finality of death, they
usually soothe
 Part of family lore
 Sometimes they warn of unfinished
business
 Lincoln, Yung