dreams

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Dreams and Consciousness

• Phoenix Golshan
• 250894352
• Section 003
• Professor Dr. Laura Fazakas-DeHoog

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What are Dreams?

• Series of images created by the brain
• Dreams are like virtual reality (Hobson, Hong,
  Friston, 2014)
• Most dreams are non-sense
• Duration of dreams vary (http//www2.ucsc.edu/drea
  ms/FAQ/)

Dream
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The Importance of Dreams

• All humans and some animals dream
• It is an integral part of sleep
• Psychologists are interested in dreams
• Allows to explore the unconscious thought
• Understand functions of sleep
• Connect dreams and reality

Dream2
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Defining the Stages of Sleep

• Two types of sleep (Payne Nadel, 2004)
• REM and NREM
• 90 minute cycles (Payne Nadel, 2004)
• REM Low amplitude/fast EEG
• Most dreams occur here (Aserinsky and Kleitman
  1953)
• NREM high amplitude/slow EEG

Waves
5
Why do we dream?Activation-Synthesis Theory
(Hobson McCarley, 1977)

• Certain parts of the brain are activated during
  REM
• Activated areas generate impulses
• Brain interprets signals as dreams

Activation-Synthesis
(http//www.howsleepworks.com/dreams_how.html)
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Why do we dream?Cognitive approaches

• Dreams may be used to solve problems
• Divorce and depression (Cartwright, 1991)
• Images are often symbols for everyday life
• Cognitive dream theories
• Dreams and waking thought the same processes
  (Passer et al., 2001)

Solving
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Why do we Dream?Freuds Psychoanalytic Theory

• Wish fulfillment
• What the unconscious mind wants
• Manifest and latent content
• Freud had a dream that led to wish fulfilment
  theory
• He dreamt about one of his patients

Wish
http//www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html
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Why do we Dream?Mental Housekeeping Theory

• When asleep, brain sorts through all memories and
  organizes them
• Dreams can also improve memories
• Brain stimulation may help keep neural
  connections
• (www.mononagrove.org/faculty/G_Jones/dre
  ams.ppt)

Memories
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Lucid Dreaming

• Feels more real than a dream aware that one is
  dreaming while dreaming
• Lucid dreaming is a hybrid state (Hobson, Hong,
  Friston, 2014)

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Summary and conclusion
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References

• Passer, M., Smith, R., Atkinson, M., Muir, D.
  (2014). Psychology Frontiers and applications.
  Toronto McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
• Payne, J. D., Nadel, L. (2004). Sleep, dreams,
  and memory consolidation The role of the stress
  hormone cortisol. Learning Memory, 11(6),
  671678. doi10.1101/lm.77104
• Aserinsky, E. and Kleitman, N. 1953. Regularly
  occurring periods of eye motility and concurrent
  phenomena during sleep. Science 118273 -274.
• McLeod, S. (2013). Sigmund Freud. Retrieved
  February 15, 2017, from http//www.simplypsycholog
  y.org/Sigmund-Freud.htm
• Dreams FAQ. (2003). Retrieved February 14, 2017,
  from The Quantitive Study of Dreams,
  http//www2.ucsc.edu/dreams/FAQ/
• Payne, J. D., Nadel, L. (2004). Sleep, dreams,
  and memory consolidation The role of the stress
  hormone cortisol. Learning Memory, 11(6),
  671678. doi10.1101/lm.77104

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References

• Hobson, J. A., McCarley, R. (1977). The brain
  as a dream state generator An activation-synthesi
  s hypothesis of the dream process. American
  Journal of Psychiatry, 134(12), 13351348.
  doi10.1176/ajp.134.12.1335
• Cartwright, R. D. (1991). Dreams that work The
  relation of dream incorporation to adaptation to
  stressful events. Dreaming, 1(1), 39.
  doi10.1037/h0094312
• Hobson, J. A., Hong, C. C. ., Friston, K. J.
  (2014). Virtual reality and consciousness
  inference in dreaming. Frontiers in Psychology,
  5, . doi10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01133
• Cherry, K. (2016, April 25). How does the
  activation-synthesis model explain dreams?
  Retrieved February 16, 2017, from Verywell,
  https//www.verywell.com/what-is-the-activation-sy
  nthesis-model-of-dreaming-2794812
• DCL UNCG psychology 121. (2003). Retrieved
  February 16, 2017, from http//web.uncg.edu/dcl/co
  urses/psychology-ischool/unit12/unit12_whydream.as
  p

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Picture References

• Dream http//www.artcorner.com/wp-content/uploads
  /2012/04/overstockart_2204_1797041254.gif?x32821
• Dream2 https//parkwestgallery.files.wordpress.co
  m/2010/02/dali-bee-sting.jpg
• Waves https//www.researchgate.net/profile/Shing-
  Tai_Pan/publication/230712986/figure/fig1/AS21397
  0356051969_at_1428025916509/Typical-polygraphic-recor
  dings-during-the-wake-WK-stage-1-S1-stage-2-S2-lig
  ht.png
• Activation-Synthesis http//www.howsleepworks.com
  /images/activation_synthesis.jpg
• Solving http//www.danielthedealcloser.com/wp-con
  tent/uploads/2016/06/85373833-dizain-problem-solvi
  ng-strategies.jpg
• Wish https//s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock
  .com/animals-snake-thin-cobra-wish_fulfillment-wis
  hful_thinking-aton490_low.jpg
• Memories http//www.brainfacts.org//media/Brainf
  acts/Article20Multimedia/Sensing20Thinking20and
  20Behaving/Learning20and20Memory/memory20illus
  tration.ashx?h367w650