• Question: What are dreams?

    Asked by natalia to Betul, Bridget, Ceri-Wyn, Maria on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Bridget Waller

      Bridget Waller answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      There are lots of theories about dreams…many of them are nonsense, so be careful what you read! The most plausible explanation is that your brain is simply ‘thinking’ when you are asleep, but without any conscious control from an area of the brain called the ‘pre-frontal cortex’. This is a very important, executive part of the brain that helps us organise our thoughts. Without it things can get a bit weird and stop making sense, and as this is not active during sleep that might explain why dreams can be so strange!

    • Photo: Betul Arslan

      Betul Arslan answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      There is no one definitive answer to this question. For centuries from philosophers to chemists tried to understand what are dreams and what is the purpose? Turns out: there is no purpose. But still, some people say that dreams are the way we problem-solve, some say it is the way our brain deals with daily issues and we clean up our hardware, some (like philosopher Carl Jung) say it is our alter-personality and tries to tell us something. Maybe the answer is all of the above….

    • Photo: Ceri-Wyn Thomas

      Ceri-Wyn Thomas answered on 23 Jun 2010:

      I think scientists are still stumped about dreaming! I think dreams are a way for our brains to filter through and process the vast amounts of visual, emotional and sensory information we bombard them with every day. Things we’ve thought, talked about, or seen during our day often crop up in our dreams. At other times you can have amazing or terrifying dreams that have nothing to do with recent events- perhaps our subconscious is just replaying visual information we’ve collected throughout our lives.

      During most of our dreaming time we experience rapid eye movement so perhaps these flashes of light trigger our brains into activity? Or perhaps this is a response to all the brain activity! It’s interesting to note that many animals have an REM phase in their sleep cycles. It’s thought that rats and dogs certainly dream too- I don’t think dreaming is exclusive to humans which is why I think it has something to do with simple information processing.

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