Dream :: essays research papers

DREAMS Theories attempting to explain the origin and functions of REM sleep include: (1) that REM sleep provides stimulation for the development of the brain; (2) that it performs a chemical restoration function, since during REM dreaming neuro-protein synthesis occurs along with the restoration of other depleted brain chemicals; (3) that it provides oculomotor (eye movement) coordination, since during non-REM sleep the eyes move independently of each other; (4) that it provides a vigilance function, since REM sleep (stage I) is characterized by a level of consciousness close to the awakened state; (5) in a more recent and controversial theory, REM dreaming performs a neurological erasure function, eliminating extraneous information build-up in the memory system; and (6) that, in a more cognitive psychological explanation, REM dreaming enhances memory storage and reorganization. Contrary to popular belief, dreaming is not caused by eating certain foods before bedtime, nor by environmental stimuli during sleeping. Dreaming is caused by internal biological process. Some researchers have proposed the activation-synthesis hypothesis. Their neurological research indicates that large brain cells in the primitive brain stem spontaneously fire about every 90 minutes, sending random stimuli to cortical areas of the BRAIN. As a consequence, memory, sensory, muscle-control, and cognitive areas of the brain are randomly stimulated, resulting in the higher cortical brain attempting to make some sense of it. This, according to the research, gives rise to the experience of a dream. Now, as in the past, the most significant controversy centers on the question of whether dreams have intentional, or actual personal, meaning. Many psychotherapists maintain that while the neurological impulses from the brain stem may activate the dreaming process, the content or meaningful representations in dreams are caused by nonconscious needs, wishes, desires, and everyday concerns of the dreamer. Thus, such psychotherapists subscribe to the phenomenological-clinical, or "top-down," explanation, which holds that dreams are intentionally meaningful messages from the unconscious. The neurological, or "bottom-up," explanation maintains that dreams have no intentional meaning. In between these two positions is an approach called content analysis. Content analysis simply describes and classifies the various representations in dreams, such as people, houses, cars, trees, animals, and color, though no deep interpretation is attributed to the content. Differences in content have been discovered between the dreams of males and females, and between dreams and occurring in different developmental stages of life. What these differences mean is under investigation. Some recent research seems to indicate that dream content reflects problems that the dreamer experiences in life, and that the function of such dreams is to facilitate the emotional resolution of the problems.