Transcript Unromancing the Dream

Unromancing the Dream
Elizabeth and Syrr
Theories
• 1970s- Allan Hobson and Robert McCarleyDreams are an attempt to interpret random
electrical impulses produced automatically in
your brain.
• Results in how the brain and mind work
during sleep.
• Brain activation is compared to stored
memories in order to synthesize the activation
into some dream content.
Method
• One- They studied and reviewed previous
work by other researchers. Able to cite 37
references that pertain to their hypothesis.
• Two- Research of animals’ sleep and dreams.
Mammals experience stages of sleep similar to
those in humans. They didn’t claim that
nonhuman animals dream.
Results and Discussion
• Sensory input and motor output are blocked
when asleep.
• Brain is able to send motor signals, the body is
not able to express them.
• Exception to the blocking of motor responses
is in the eyes which may be why visual images
are triggered during dreaming.
Results and Discussion
• The brain enters REM sleep at regular intervals
that remains in that state for specific lengths
of time – nothing random.
• Dreaming sleep (D State) appeared to be a
preprogrammed event in the brain that
functions almost like a neurobiological clock.
• Dreaming sleep is purely physiological, not
psychological.
Results and Discussion
• Brain activates itself internally.
• Images are called up from the memory in an
attempt to match the data generated by the
brain’s activation.
Results and Discussion
• At least 95% of all dreams are not
remembered – unless it is vivid and you
awaken during or immediately after.
• When we awaken there is an immediate
change in the brain chemistry.
• Certain brain chemicals that are necessary for
converting short-term memories into longterm ones are suppressed during REM sleep.