Inception: Pure Science Fiction Essay

Dreaming is yet another state of consciousness. A dream is simply an unfolding episode of mental images that involve characters and events. Dreams usually tend to occur during REM sleep but can occur during NREM sleep as well. We dream on a variety of topics, subjects, and individuals. No dream can be exactly interpreted or defined, therefore people have always been fascinated with what, why, and how we dream. An unpleasant and almost terrifying type of dream is a nightmare. This is a very vivid, almost real

Dreaming, although a substantial component of our nighttime lives, remains somewhat of an enigma due to the fact that it occurs while we are unconscious. The inaccessibility of the unconscious mind weakens full analysis and comprehension of dreaming which researchers have been attempting to accomplish. However, over the years many researchers have elucidated many mysteries about dreams, such as when we dream, why we dream, and what we dream about, in order to bring forth an understanding of dreams as well as identify

The humankind throughout history has tried to learn and figure out the meaning of dreaming. The interpretations and true meanings of dreams has expanded and has varied over centuries and cultures. Many of the earlier studies were based on culture’s and the interpretation of dreams, but also used as a form of prophecy, inspiration, and guidance. Many people still believe this such, people today beliefs and theories have opened up to a more vast interpretation, they are made up of; dreams are rare brain activity, dreams allow people to reflect on themselves, or that dreams are too massive to be correctly interpret. Although, not a single theory has been proven to this day, science as of why dreams occur is still a mystery.

TRANSITION: Now that we saw what functions in the brain during a dream we can better understand the significance

A series of thoughts, images, and sensations that occur during a person’s mind during the time that they sleep is known as a dream. Dreams go way back until the beginning of mankind, even to the BC era during the time that Egyptians and Greeks were the leading force! The Egyptians examined the meanings behind the dreams we have and analyzed the symbols. There are a numerous amount of reasons behind our dreams. People must ask all the time, what is the reasoning behind dreaming? Why do we dream? What is the meaning behind the dream I had? In an average lifetime, approximately six years is spent dreaming. Every single person on this planet dreams and just because one might not remember doing so, it was still done. One might have several dreams occur throughout a normal night of sleep that lasts from about seven to eight hours. Everyone has dreams and each experience is distinctive and personal. Some can contain vivid pictures or memorable illustrations of reality and others can be unreal or abstract. In a way, they all have certain meanings to them and there can be messages hidden that are trying to tell someone something. An abundant amount of people are always curious as to why they dreamed what they did and spend time looking for those answers.

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.

Methods: The participants, all males age 23-32, slept in a dark, quiet lab while their brain waves and eye movements were recorded. They were not aloud to sleep at all during the day when they were not in the lab because they might dream. To establish a base for the experiment, participants in the study were allowed to sleep normally for a few nights. The next few nights the participants were fully awaken every time that they started to dream. The next section was the recovery phase where they could sleep normally followed by more nights where they would be woken between

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

Thesis Statement: Dreams are successions of images, emotions, and sensations that occur subconsciously during sleep.

When I was doing my research it was a little hard to find good sources that are centered on the science behind dreams. A lot of the information seemed to be pretty old and outdated. That was when I found the dreaming brain by J. Allan Hobson. This author takes a look at the

Next, the limbic system, which is located in the forebrain and is the one in charge of a person’s emotional life, gets highly activated as well. This is probably why dreams are said to be guided by emotions – just as Hartmann believed. In addition to that, when the dreamer goes to bed,

“The average person spends a total of about six years dreaming - 2 hours each night - although one third of our lives is spent sleeping” (“Dreams”). Everybody that goes to sleep, dreams. Dreams are a huge part of individuals because they experience dreaming every time they go to sleep. However, no one exactly knows what are dreams define. Even though people are aware of their dreams, they do not know when they dream. Dreams are emotions, thoughts, images, and sensations that happen while sleeping. They cannot be controlled, or so many people believe, so not anything that happens in your dreams are in people’s control. Scientists discovered that dreaming happens in rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep. Another thing about dreams is that

Dreams are very unique and many people have theorized about what a dream 's meaning or purpose is, and what affects them. In most present day studies, more vivid dreams have been linked to the stage of sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. REM dreams are emotional, bizarre, and sometimes so vivid we may confuse them with reality. Most commonly, a dream’s story line incorporates traces of previous day’s experiences and preoccupations. Unless a person is awakened during REM stage of sleep or the dream is exceedingly vivid or intense, most people don’t remember anything about their dreams during REM sleep. This is likely due to the fact that during REM sleep, our brain essentially turns off the ability to encode,or create, new memories.

Scholars define lucid dreaming as the ability to achieve mental consciousness while still physically asleep (Levitan et al). During a normal or ‘non-lucid’ dream, people take their dreams for reality; a lucid dream allows dreamers to conquer that false belief and realize they are dreaming while still asleep. Although dreams occur in all stages of sleep, complex dreams (the ones remembered upon awakening) take place in the rapid eye movement stage (REM) (Gackenbach et al). Using a polygraph, scientists observed the brain activity of individuals while they slept; when an individual entered into a lucid dream, areas of the conscious brain and unconscious brain lit up (Levitan et al). In a lucid dream the unconscious mind and the conscious mind

There is no part of the brain that is totally inactive during dream-state, but of course some parts of the brain are more active than others. One particularly active area of the brain during REM sleep is the limbic system, which includes the hippocampus and the amygdala. This area of the brain is involved in processing emotions and fear, among other things. The prefrontal cortex shows low activity during REM sleep, which is responsible for logical reasoning and self-control. During dreams, the brain allows the controlling side of the brain to give way to the more primitive, less rational way of thinking, which is better known as the Activation-Synthesis Model of dreaming. “The brain synthesizes and interprets this internal activity and attempts to find meaning in these signals, which results in dreaming. This model suggests that dreams are a subjective interpretation of signals generated by the brain during sleep,”