The Mind At Night: The New Science Of How And Why We Dream by Andrea RockOver the past few decades, there has been a revolution in scientific knowledge about why we dream, whats actually happening to the brain when we do, and what the sleeping mind reveals about our waking hours. Beginning with the birth of dream research in the 1950s, award-winning science reporter Andrea Rock traces the brief but fascinating history of this emerging scientific field. She then takes us into modern sleep labs across the country, bringing the scientists to life as she interprets their intellectual breakthroughs and asks the questions that intrigue us all: Why do we remember only a fraction of our dreams? Why are dreams usually accompanied by intense emotion, such as fear or anxiety? Can we really control our dreams without waking up? Are universal dream interpretations valid? Is dreaming our way of consolidating long-term memories and filtering the days mental detritus? Can dreams truly spark creative thought or help solve problems? Accessible and engaging, The Mind at Night shines a bright light on our nocturnal journeys, while revealing the crucial role dreams could play in penetrating the mystery of consciousness.
Dreams, Rem Sleep, & Sleep Paralysis - How They Affect Our Brains and Health
Dreaming May Help the Brain Forget Excess Memories, a Study of Mice Shows
I first published my critique of journalistic accounts of dreaming below in And it casts further doubts on the activation-synthesis and Freudian theories of dreams, which already had been rejected by most dream researchers by the s at the latest. So, what's new? Basically, we know the where , when , and how of dreaming, and they supplement the fact that we already knew much about the psychological meaning that can be extracted from dream reports. Furthermore, it now seems even less likely that there is a why to dreaming, in terms of adaptive function.
All rights reserved. Our brain profoundly alters its behavior and purpose, dimming our consciousness. For a while, we become almost entirely paralyzed. Our eyes, however, periodically dart about behind closed lids as if seeing, and the tiny muscles in our middle ear, even in silence, move as though hearing. We are sexually stimulated, men and women both, repeatedly. We sometimes believe we can fly. We approach the frontiers of death.
New research at the University of Adelaide has found that a specific combination of techniques will increase people's chances of having lucid dreams, in which the dreamer is aware they're dreaming while it's still happening and can control the experience.
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Researchers identify neurons linked with memory retention, performance in mice
By Richard Alleyne , Science Correspondent. Researchers at Harvard Medical School believe that sleeping — and dreaming — after learning a complex task or piece of knowledge helps your brain make sense of and consolidate it. - In a study of mice, scientists have pinpointed neurons that helping the brain forget.