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A dream is the experience of imagined images, voices, or other sensations during sleep. Dreams often portray events which are impossible or unlikely in reality, and are usually outside the control of the dreamer. Many people report experiencing strong emotions while dreaming, and frightening or upsetting dreams are referred to as nightmares. The scientific discipline of dream research is oneirology. Dreams have a long history both as a subject of conjecture and as a source of inspiration (artistic or otherwise). Throughout history, people have sought meaning in dreams. They have been described physiologically as a response to neural processes during sleep, psychologically as reflections of the unconscious, and spiritually as messages from God or predictions of the future (oneiromancy). Most scientists believe that almost all humans dream with approximately the same frequency. Even those who rarely recall dreams report having them if awakened during REM sleep. Dreaming in animals varies from species to species.
Understanding dreamsNeurology of dreamsThere is no universally agreed-upon biological definition of dreaming. Dreams are typically associated with rapid eye movement REM sleep, a phase of brain activity which occurs towards the end of the sleep cycle. REM sleep is characterized by rapid horizontal eye movements, stimulation of the pons, increased respiratory and heart rate, and temporary paralysis of the body. Subjects awakened during REM sleep usually report having been dreaming. However, a small fraction of subjects also report dreaming in other phases of sleep. Some neurologists even group mental phenomena such as daydreaming under the umbrella of dreaming. Studies on time sense during dreams have determined that a subject's time sense during a dream closely matches their time sense during waking activity. If a dream feels like it lasted twenty minutes, it was indeed about twenty minutes. There are no significant time distortions while dreaming. It is unknown where in the brain dreams originate — if there is such a single location — or why dreams occur at all. However, there are many competing theories of the neurology of dreams. The activation synthesis theory developed by Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley asserts that the sensory experiences are fabricated by the cortex as a means of interpreting random signals from the pons. Memory, attention and the other features lacking in the dream state are taken to depend on the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin, which are present in reduced concentrations during REM sleep. This chemical change is hypothesized to produce a psychotic state, as well as a lack of orientation. On the other hand, research by Mark Solms suggests that dreams are generated in the forebrain, and that REM sleep and dreaming are not directly related. Eugen Tarnow suggests that dreams are ever present excitations of the long term memory system, even during waking life — McCarley also observes that when asked to recall their last thought, subjects often reported somewhat hallucinatory thoughts. The strangeness of dreams is then due to long-term memories being stored in "dream format"; this is reminiscent of the Penfield & Rasmussen’s findings that electrical excitations of the cortex give rise to experiences similar to dreams. During waking life an executive function interprets long term memory consistent with reality checking. Supernatural interpretations of dreams
The mysterious and often bizarre nature of dreams has led many to interpret dreams as divine gifts or messages, as predictions of the future, or as messages from the past. Alternatively, the idea of the "dream world" as real and the "day world" as imagined is another supernatural interpretation of dreams. Profound dreams believed to be sent by God have led to conversion to another religion. Oneiromancy, prediction of the future through the interpretation of dreams, holds great credence in ancient Judeo-Christianity: in the Tanakh, Jacob, Joseph and Daniel are given the ability to interpret dreams by Yahweh; in the New Testament, divine inspiration comes as a dream to Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary. Western philosophers of a skeptical bent (notably René Descartes) have pointed out that dream experiences are indistinguishable from "real" events from the viewpoint of the dreamer, and so no objective basis exists for determining whether one is dreaming or awake at any given instant. One must, they argue, accept the reality of the waking world on the basis of faith. Psychodynamic interpretation of dreams
Both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung identify dreams as an interaction between the unconscious and the conscious. They also assert together that unconscious is the dominant force of the dream, and in dreams it conveys its own mental activity to the perceptive faculty. While Freud felt that there was an active censorship against the unconscious even during sleep, Jung argued that the dream's bizarre quality is an efficient language, comparable to poetry and uniquely capable of revealing the underlying meaning. Dreams of Absent Minded TransgressionDreams of Absent Minded Transgression (sometimes refered to as "DAMT (pronounced damnit) dreams") are dreams where the individual dreaming absentmindedly performs an action that they have been trying to stop (a classic example being a smoker trying to quit dreams of lighting a cigarette). Subjects that have had DAMT dreams have reported awaking with intense feelings of guilt. Some studies have shown that DAMT dreams are positively correlated with successfully stopping the behavior compared to control subjects who did not experience these dreams. [1] Dreaming in animalsFor a long time true dreaming had only been positively confirmed in humans, but recently there have been research reports supporting a view that dreaming occurs in other animals as well. Animals certainly undergo REM sleep, but their subjective experience is difficult to determine. The animal with the longest average periods of REM sleep is the armadillo. It would appear that mammals and birds are the only, or at least most frequent, dreamers in nature, which is perhaps related to their sleep patterns. Many animals such as frogs probably do not sleep at all (except when hibernating, which is a different kind of state). Some researchers have managed to block the brain mechanism that paralyzes the body during dreaming. With this method it has been discovered that a cat seems to dream mostly about chasing prey and playing with it. On a more basic level, many dog owners have also noted that their pets sometimes move their legs as if running or even make weak barking noises while asleep, or that their pets suddenly wake up and appear to think that a character from a nightmare is actually real. See also
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External linksWikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Dream
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