Dreaming Research Paper

Throughout history, numerous people have studied the human body and its many functions. One area of the body that causes much confusion and controversy is the mind. Many parts of the brain baffle scientists, but a specific aspect of the mind that is fascinating and puzzling is dreams and their functions. It is surprising that an average person dreams for at least six years of their life, but scientists still do not know the role of dreaming (Shaw). Several theories have been presented to provide a reason for dreaming, and attempt to explain what most do not understand. Although dream research has been prominent lately, no agreement has been reached on which theory is correct on the purpose of dreams. Some believe that dreams are only

People forget ninety present of all dreams. Sleep can produce a state of unconsciousness were the mind and brain apparently turn off the functions. Some people even have premonition dreams where they dream about something is going to happen. Like when Abraham Lincoln dreamed of his assassination and many victims of nine eleven had dreams warning them. So it seems that dreams try to warn you and get you ready. Showing the dreams-for-survival theory explains why people have dreams and why they are important.

Dream content reflects aspects of waking-life experiences. After memories are made, they are often fragmentally merged with other information to construct larger, holistic dreams. Autobiographical memories are predominantly represented in dreams in comparison to episodic and semantic memories. Among various characteristics from waking-life experiences such as places, people, and events, emotions are highly incorporated into dream content. There is also a decreasing relationship between the cognitive demand of an activity and the frequency in which that activity occurs in dreams. Dreams tend to include material from experiential memories and events from the preceding day as well as experiences from 5-7 days prior. The recurrence of memory content in dreams seems to support the hypothesis that dreaming helps with memory consolidation, or particularly the content which is reflected in dreams.

For hundreds of years, people have been questioning why they are dreaming what they are. Dreams incorporate deeper meanings and past experiences to express the information in the form of visual images. Through the process of dreaming and imagining, we as humans have the ability to experience the world and use our mind to explore our imagination (Berman). Dreaming is a way to stabilize our thought process and cleanse the mind. We discover that every aspect in a dream is manifesting itself in some way in our everyday lives (Springett).

To many people, dreams are the thoughts that occur while sleeping, having almost mystic qualities. For millennia the significance of dreams has escaped even the brightest of philosophers and intellectuals. Many people have speculated about why people dream and what meanings the dreams have but in recent times two theories have gained credibility in answering those questions. The first theory is Sigmund Freuds and the other is known as the cognitive theory of dreams also known as biological determinism.

Everyone in the world has had at least one dream in their lifetime. Most people do not think much about the dreams that they have, unless they are recurring. Dreaming is “a series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during REM sleep.” Most people today wake up from a dream or nightmare saying, “thank god that was a dream,” or “too bad that was just a dream.” Many times these dreams or nightmares have more meaning than we may think. If people took more time to consider the meaning behind the dreams they have, then dream interpretation could be used as a means to help resolve issues in our awaken lives, including helping to

As we lay ourselves down every night to put our bodies to rest, our brains begin doing something extraordinary. It begins piecing together images, creating scenarios, simulating sensory perception, and adding in emotions and fears. They can make us wake up with a smile on our face or in a cold sweat. Dreaming is such a strange and often inexplicable phenomenon, but something we all do just about every night. People have theorized the process and the utility of dreams for centuries. However, much of the accepted knowledge we have a bout dreams today is still only theory. In fact, hardly anything about the dreaming experience is concrete because it is an experience

There are many theories about why we dream, some say dreams have no meaning or purpose, others say dreams are required for emotional, physical and mental health. According to the activation- synthesis model of dreaming theory circuits in the brain become activated during the REM cycle, which causes areas in the limbic system involved in memories, emotions and sensations become activated (verywell.com/why-do-we-dream-top-dream-theories-2795931). Sigmund Freud’s theory on dreams suggested that dreams represented unconscious desires, thoughts and motivations (verywell.com/Freudian-theory-2795845). Though these thoughts are not consciously expressed, Freud suggested they make their way into awareness via dreams.

Prior to this project being assigned, I always thought that dreams were just your brain organizing or processing information throughout the night, but now that I have been researching my strange dreams, I have realized that they correlate to my life. My dreams mostly consist of disappearances, forgetfulness, disagreements, and individuals morphing into other beings. A majority of my dreams included friends and classmates, occasionally I would dream about strangers. I have not had recurring dreams, but what amazes me is that all of my dreams so far have had similar meaning when I research them.

Some people claim to be able to remember their dreams very well. Most people admit to having a hard time remembering parts of dream or even dreaming at all. Along with many other aspects of dreaming this is a debatable topic between researchers. There are many theories as to why we can’t remember our dreams. Some of the most notable that I came across come from philosophers dating back to as early as the 1800s. Hobson did a good job of bringing up various theories from famous philosophers such as Sigmund Freud. One possibility is that our brain’s neuro-chemicals during sleep are very different from when we wake up and so they don’t allow us to consolidate

Martin Luther King Jr. believes in everyone and no one should give up. Kings powerful voice and actions make him an excellent hero. King was a humble man and caring man. Many people wanted to hear what King had to say. Martin Luther King Jr. is a great example of a hero because took leadership into his own hands, he led the march on Washington, and has won a Nobel Peace Prize.

The following paper analyzes a psychology journal that examined the results of a clinical study seeking to teach lucid dreaming, in partnership with gestalt therapy, as an additional tool for dealing with nightmares. B. Holzinger, G. Klosch, and B. Saletu define lucid dreaming as a learnable skill with in which the nightmare sufferer learns about dream awareness techniques, providing them with a means of control when experiencing nightmares (p. 355). In association, Gestalt therapy is defined as a conscious confrontation of nightmare images in a therapy setting, often by role-playing. The argument is made that

RING RING! “Come to Gavin’s AMAZING end of the year party! We have games, food, and especially FUN!!! I you can make it, it’ll be a blast!” Gavin’s text made me feel like a million bucks. I love parties like I love my mother. I accepted the invite, and when the day came, on a Thursday during Summer, I was there, having a hotdog and a Coke in my hand. The hotdog had a strange smell, although it tasted great. The Coke was delicious and very bubbly, and as brisk as a morning dew. Most of my friends were there, Joey (both of them), Logan, Zach, and of course, Gavin. The tall Joey, he has a knack for adventure, and let’s just say cats aren’t his favorite animal. The smaller one is a good friend of Gavin, and always makes sure he has the best relationships with his teachers. Zach is a comedian,

A dream is a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. It is thought that everyone dreams between 3 to 6 times per night, and each dream usually lasts between 5 to 20 minutes. Besides, dreams mainly occur in the rapid-eye- movement (REM) stage of sleep, when brain activity is high. In terms of why do we dream, many researchers have speculated that dreaming is related to memory reprocessing

Dreaming is something that everyone does, even if you don’t remember it. Throughout history there have been many theories about dreams. One of them was that dream should be seen as a message coming from outside individual, mostly from God like creatures. And another theory is that dream should be seen as a prophecy, being able to tell us what awaits for us in the future. These theories are prescientific so today we don 't view dreams this way. Freud then came along and proposed that dreams reflect a conflict between the unconscious desires and the conscious mind. So, dreams are mostly an expression of unconscious wishes as well as being sleep preserving (Olsen, 2016, p. 159). Despite all these theories of what dreams are, what is the actual reason we have dreams, why do we remember some and forget some, and what are lucid dreams?