Introduction
Sleep is an essential need for all human beings across all cultures. Throughout history, various religions and societies have tried to interpret what dreams during unconscious sleep really mean. Are they really prophetic messages or windows into a hidden compartment of the mind? And what are our brains doing during sleep? Are our emotions in dreams the same as emotions in a conscious, awake state? Does the brain process the emotion as a real “feeling” or is it just an illusion our brain creates to make the stories of dreams more realistic?
Understanding this idea can help us to define what an emotion is more precisely. It can give us an understanding if emotions are always correlated to the same brain region in different conscious states. Also, it gives psychologists more of a window into the importance of dreams themselves. Dreams could prove to increase emotional intelligence if emotions are in fact proven to not to be cranial illusions or they could give a broader purpose to why we dream in the first place. If dreams are in fact delusions created in the brain during REM, why? Research can be pursued to understand the evolutionary need for these illusions in the brain and what purpose they really do serve.
This experiment serves to prove if the emotions we experience in our dreams actually correlate with emotions during conscious and semi-conscious states. Using fMRI machines, experimenters will record brain activity to see where induced emotions occur in the brain and their specific brain regions. A sleep clinic will be used prior to any emotional induction to measure the amount of sleep movement subjects perform to see which individuals move too much for accurate reads so they can be retrained if need be in the...
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... emotion: A meta-analytic review.
Payne, J., & Nadel, L. (2004). Sleep, dreams, and memory consolidation: The role of the stress hormone cortisol.
Robert, S., & P, W. M. (2006, January). Sleep, Memory, and Plasticity. (Annual Review of Psychology) Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070307
Van Gulick, R. (2011, August). Consciousness. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from Stanford Encyclopedia of Consciousness: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consciousness/#4
Wilkerson, R. (2013). Dream Science REM. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from Dream Library: http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/library/idx_science_rem.htm
Yaso, M., Nuruki, A., Tsujimura, S.-i., & Yunokuchi, K. (2006). Detection of REM sleep by heart rate. Retrieved from http://www.psycho.hes.kyushu-u.ac.jp/~lab_miura/Kansei/Workshop/proceedings/P-205.pdf
3)The REM Sleep-Memory Consolidation Hypothesis," article on Center for Sleep Research's homepage, Interesting site for sleep disorders
We spend six years of our lives in sleep and many of us do not think about what occurs while asleep. Everyone has experienced more than a few dreams while asleep, that is because, whether you know it or not, everyone dreams while asleep. Based off the Activation Information Mode Model theory, dreams are random neurological firings that have no particular meaning. The reason dreams feel so real and personal is because they are based from recent memories located in the brainstem. Although dreams are meaningless, our brain tries to make connections. Through the Activation Information Mode model people are able to analysis personal dreams.
Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2008). Reactivation and consolidation of memory during sleep. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 188-192. doi: 10.1111/j.14678721.2008.00572.x
...ep. There are events in sleep that are associated with synaptic modification, which is the basis of brain rewiring that enhances cognition. There is evidence that sleep accelerated transcription of cortical genes that are associated with protein synthesis9. These newly generated proteins are known to be required for strengthening of existing synapses and building new synapses. Studies have found increase of factors associated with brain-plasticity and enhanced learning during sleep5. These factors include phosphorylated or activated CREB, a transcriptional factor, as well as Arc, BDNF, and NGFI-A. These evidence help explain how sleep can influence brain rewiring through synaptic modification. This mechanism helps explain how sleep can modify the brain and ultimately enhance learning. This is a strong evidence that supports the synaptic downscaling hypothesis.
Sleep is defined as a reversible, natural state of reduced responsiveness to external stimuli and relative inactivity, accompanied by a loss of consciousness1. This state of inactivity has been evolutionary conserved across species against many selection pressures. This suggests that sleep holds a vital function. Multiple studies have suggested that sleep enhances both declarative and procedural memory 2,3. Consequently, memory consolidation is one of the ostensible functions of sleep. The active system consolidation hypothesis and the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis (SHY) are the two main hypotheses for this putative function of sleep. The active system consolidation model proposes that the repeated reactivation of newly encoded representations in the hippocampus during slow wave sleep (SWS) drives a transfer of memory traces from short-term store in the hippocampus to neocortical regions for long term storage4. These representations are stabilized in the neocortex during subsequent periods of REM sleep by synaptic potentiation5. SHY proposes that sleep acts to homeostatically renormalize synaptic weight to counteract the potentiation that occurs during wake6,7. This occurs by an activity dependent downscaling of synaptic weight during SWS. These models are often portrayed in direct opposition, largely due to the active potentiation proposed in the active system consolidation model, in contrast to the global downscaling (depotentiation) of SHY. However it has recently been considered that these two models may not be mutually exclusive, but could act in unison8. This essay will analyse what I believe to be the best evidence in support and against each model to contend the role of sleep in memory consolidation. The rol...
Taken as a whole, each state of sleep, REM and non-REM plays a crucial role in memory and learning. Without it our brains would not be given the opportunity to consolidate new ideas and concepts learned throughout the days and even years. Many studies have shown that sleep is directly correlated with learning through similar brain functions activated while animals and people were both awake and asleep. If the proper amount of sleep is not allowed, sleep deprivation will impair brain functionality. This will create problems with neuron performance in areas such as the cerebral cortex, thus causing impairment in judgment, behavior, focus, memory and learning. Overall, it is clear that a good night’s sleep plays a vital role in learning and memory.
During prescientific days, dreams were interpreted as ‘manifestations’ of a ‘higher power’. Since the introduction of psychology, dreams have had 4 distinct interpretations. The first interprets dreams as a “liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature”. The second interprets dreams as “accidental disturbances from ‘internal organs’. The third interprets dreams as a foretelling of the future. The last interpretation is Freud’s. He interprets dream as an expression of subconscious desires.
All over the world different people, scientists, and civilizations have different dream theories. For instance, the Senoi tribe in Malaysia has a fascinating tradition of dream telling. Every morning the people of the tribe begin their day by discussing and interpreting their dreams with each other. The children, as they grow older, actually learn to control their dreams by simply wishing bad dreams into positive ones. It is observed that, by paying tribute their dreams, the people of the Senoi tribe learn to have faith in themselves. Also, they have very few, if any, mental problems “could working constructively with dreams be part of the answer” to mental issues? (Peirce)
Dreams have been thought to contain significant messages throughout many cultures. A dream is an unfolding sequence of perceptions, thoughts, and emotions that is experienced as a series of real-life events during sleep. The definitions of dreams are different among studies, which can also lead to quite different results. Perhaps, the dream interpretation has becoming increasingly popular. In this paper, I will talk about what I have learned about three different views of dream interpretations. One theory made by Sigmund Freud who believed that dreams are triggered by unacceptable repressed wishes, often of a sexual nature. He argued that because dreams we experience are merely disguised versions of people real dreams. The other theory called activation–synthesis theory, made by Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley, based on the observation that during REM sleep, many brain-stem circuits become active and bombard the cerebral cortex with neural signals. The last theory, proposed by William Domhoff, is called the neurocognitive theory of dreaming, which demonstrates that dream content in general is continuous with waking conceptions and emotional preoccupations. Thus, dreaming is best understood as a developmental cognitive achievement that depends upon the maintenance of a specific network of forebrain structures. While each theory has different belief system and approach method, it is a great opportunity to know how former psychologists contributed to the field of dream interpretation.
As living animals, we all experience a phenome known as sleep. Although we all experience sleep, very little is known about it, especially when it comes to how it affects memory. As college students, sleep is vital to our health and wellbeing, we need the right amount of sleep to be able to be awake and attentive during classes. But the question remains, how does sleep affect our memory? Does the lack of sleep a person is getting make it harder for their brains to process and store information? While researching this topic, I came across some information that might help us to better understand just exactly how sleep affects our memory.
Despite the large amount of time we spend asleep, surprisingly little is actually known about sleeping and dreaming. Much has been imagined, however. Over history, sleep has been conceived as the space of the soul, as a state of absence akin to death, as a virtual or alternate reality, and more recently, as a form of (sub)consciousness in which memories are built and erased. The significance attributed to dreams has varied widely as well. The Ancient Greeks had surprise dream encounters with their gods. Native Americans turned to their dreams for guidance in life. Shamans dreamed in order to gather information from the spirits.
Vandekerckhove, M., & Cluydts, R. (2010). The emotional brain and sleep: An intimate relationship. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 14(4), 219-226. doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2010.01.002
There has never been an exact answer as to why people experience seemingly random series of images, thoughts, and sensations in their sleep. People have been dreaming since the beginning of time, but for some reason, nobody has figured out why the human’s brains are so active, even in their sleep. Dreams can be essentially anything, from dreaming about falling to dreaming about being a princess. Although, dreams seem harmless they can be a problem for some, as they can take the form of nightmares, and affect individual’s sleeping habits. Several theories about dreaming have been developed over the past hundreds of years.
Many people choose to believe their dreams provide an unknown meaning awaiting discovery. Many trusted and credited theorist provide persuasive arguments that seem reasonable and enticing. The brain is such a complex organ that the theories regarding the unknown workings of it seem reasonable. There are many functions of the brain that remain unknown especially during the sleep cycles. It would be much more perplexing if dreams provided insight to the future or were attempts from the brain to work through our inner personal distress.
Rasch, Björn, and Jan Born. "About Sleep 's Role in Memory." Physiological Reviews. American Physiological Society, n.d. Web. 06 May 2016.