Activation Synthesis Theory Of Dreams

There are various theories as to why we dream, one of them is activation-synthesis hypothesis, proposed by Alan Hobson and Robert McCarley in 1977. The idea is that the specific neuron activity that takes place during REM sleep is synthesized into a plot in the cerebral cortex, and dreams are the brain trying to make sense of the random neural activity that takes place during REM sleep. The oldest theory is of Freud’s psychoanalytic view, dreams are visual representations of suppressed thoughts or unacceptable desires, ideas, aspirations, or memories. The psychoanalytic view tells us each dream is crammed with symbolism and says a lot about the unconscious mind when you interpret them. The interpretations of the dreams are subjective, making

The three types of dream theories are the psychodynamic, activation-synthesis, and neurocognitive dream theories. Each are a little different and interpret dreams in a separate way. The psychodynamic dream theory was made by Sigmund Freud and states that dreams are all about fulfilling wishes and come from internal forces and conflicts. He believed that dreams contain symbols that represent what someone may be aware of or may subconsciously want. On the other hand, he also thought that dreams could also just be over everyday experiences. The activation-synthesis hypothesis was made by Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley and this hypothesis is much more based on biological body functions. These two psychiatrists believed that during REM sleep brain centers are initiated but the messages made by these centers are stopped and the body makes no movements. The brain still receives these messages and tries to make sense of the random material by looking

As a lead in to psychoanalysis, as part of my journal I kept a daily dream log for a week (Appendix A, p. i). Although enjoyable, I did find myself questioning the validity and lack of scientific support. There seems to be too much room for different interpretations or misinterpretations. This

I have always been interested in learning and interpreting dreams every since I was in high school. Out of everything I learned about dreams over the years, the one that really resonated with me the most was that dreaming is our way of dealing with problems from our waking state. For that reason, I chose an article called Relation of Dreams To Waking Concerns by Rosalind Cartwright, Mehmet Y. Agargun, Jennifer Kirkby, and Julie Kabat Friedman. It captured my interest because it goes into depth about how your waking concerns effects your dreaming state. It also goes into detail about Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and what they have to do with dreaming.

Normally, dreams occur in the REM stage of sleep, but they can occur in the fourth stage of sleep. Although little is truly known about dreams, because we can only rely on the dreamer, there are three main theories that try to explain dreams. These theories are Freud’s psycho dynamic theory, the cognitive theory, and the activation-stimulation theory.

Dr. Robert Stickgold believes that an individual’s dream is formulated in a web of memories; memories that individual’s do not have clear access to during wakeful times and therefore, dreams can be a view of our unconscious. Dreams contain more of what the brain finds most essential, which could be something an individual spent the majority of a day thinking about, or something meaningful happening just prior to going to bed according to Dr. Stickgold. Moreover, Dr. Stickgold admits that our dream’s may also be the brain’s way of searching for ways to connect the complex webs of an individual’s memory, but it is not likely that our dream’s content actually fits with an individual’s beliefs or feelings. Dreams can definitely help an individual

The activation-synthesis theory is simply just another way of thinking. Yet, many would agree that dreams are more meaningful than the two psychiatrists originally concluded. A survey conducted on a number of people showed that dreams have real connections with emotions and actions through daily lives. Hobson and McCarley have since then made the activation-synthesis theory into a new perspective dealing with the meanings of dreams. This new perspective is called the activation-information-mode model

In lecture, we learned that the psychodynamic view of dreaming is the way our thoughts and emotions in our unconscious mind process in sleep (K.W. Brown, personal communication, September 8, 2015). Overtime there have been a variety of theories about interpreting our dreams. One theory is known as the “activation synthesis hypothesis,” this explains dreams as memories (Linden, 2011). Whereas the “threat simulation theory” is a way to counteract threats or things that someone sees as bad (Linden, 2011). Not only are there different types of theories but, there are also different types of dreams. Two types of dreams we covered in lecture are garden variety and lucid. Dr. K. W. Brown explained to us that garden variety dreaming describes an

Ever wonder when having a dream if it’s a sign from the universe? Others probably don’t put much thought into it, they’re just images in your head while you sleep that’ll be forgotten by time the day really begins. People have been questioning dreams since A.D and it wasn’t until the late 1800s that those questions starting getting the attention science. It was none other than psychology’s own Sigmund Freud that that sparked the debate of dreams. In this article, Sweet Dreams Are Made of This written by Gerhard Klosch and Ulrich Kraft, they told not only the work that Freud started with dreams but continuous studies that have been made by many others to help crack the mystery of dreams.

Allan Hobson proposed neuroscience perspective(all the sciences) of the dream, the activation-synthesis theory explains that dreams are a result of “the electrical energy that the brain produces during REM sleep, possibly as a result of changes in the production of particular neurotransmitters.” The electrical energy randomly triggers the memories stored in the brain because the brain tries to “make sense of neutral activity” that happens during sleep. The brain tries to put the event that occurred in chronological order to make a logical story “ filling in the gaps to produce a rational

Dreams can be awe-inspiring, strange and even downright disturbing. Dreams can evoke emotions, feelings and visuals that can bring out our worst fears, give us hope, and even allow us to change the world. There have been many documented scientific discoveries that are described as being first encountered in a dream, such as with Dmitri Mendeleev in discovering the periodic table: “In a dream I saw a table where all the elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper...” All of this can make one wonder, what really are dreams, and what is their purpose? The truth is, this has been a mystery for scientists and philosophers for decades.

Many psychologists have developed theories as to why we dream. Sigmund Freud, neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis, believed dreams were the manifestation of repressed desires. During the time, it was being widely accepted that dreams helped “illustrate the relationship of the dynamic unconscious to consciousness” (Blum, n.p.). Other psychologists also believed in the relationship between the unconscious and conscious mind. For example, Carl Jung believed “dreams were a way to gain knowledge into the subconscious mind” (Smith, n.p.). Jung developed the theory of collective unconscious. This theory was based on the idea that the collective unconscious was shared between all humans, and therefore also the source of all

The information contained in this source provided me with logical, objective facts that I was not provided with in the other two sources. Trego provides awesome statistics on dreams. She informs readers that we cycle through repetitive sleep stages every 90 minutes with each cycle consisting of Rapid Eye Movement. Our bodies are virtually paralyzed while we dream, so that is why we do not usually react physically to threatening dream images. She identifies the exact location within the brain that has the most activity when we dream, which is the Hippocampus. Trego desires to correct the thought process of readers that claim they do not dream. She states that “everyone has dreams, but we can only remember a mere fraction of them.” The information contained in this source would be an excellent counterargument for readers that feel dreams are irrelevant because they cannot personally remember their

I compiled a list of all the information I wanted to learn. From that list, I was able to shape my research question: What are dreams? Later, I was able to form a solution: Dreams are caused by the course of stimulating brain circuits for joining more recent memories with older ones.

A dream is the experience of having images, sounds, or other sensations while sleeping. Many dreams come from various activities from throughout the day but some offer symbolic expressions. There is a connection between the conscious and the unconscious that can fill in the gaps of self-knowledge and provide the information needed. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung have two theories on dreams. Sigmund Freud’s theory was that dreams are an expression of what one is repressing during the time being awake. Carl Jung believed that dreams provide messages about “lost” or “neglected” parts of ourselves that need to be reintegrated. Why do we dream? Dreams are wish fulfillment. They reveal wishes or emotions that one did not realize they had. Dreams