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Is it possible to 'think' a dream?


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I'd be interested to know the reason for dreams. Do they have a biological purpose?

 

I'm sure studies have been done, etc....But my own personal 'take' on it (completely unscientific) would be, just residual memories whizzing about your mind...Let's face it, if the brain shut down during sleep, we wouldn't wake up!

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They are more entertaining than the message that reads "This brain is offline for scheduled maintenance."

:huh:

That's an interesting thought...

 

... so a dream is a bit like an old TV test card, and is used by the brain to self-calibrate?

 

I wonder what that means for people who don't have any dreams though? :(

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:huh:

That's an interesting thought...

 

... so a dream is a bit like an old TV test card, and is used by the brain to self-calibrate?

 

I wonder what that means for people who don't have any dreams though? :(

 

How do you know they don't dream? Maybe they just don't remember them...?

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I'd be interested to know the reason for dreams. Do they have a biological purpose?

It isn't yet known if they have a purpose. They may be a by-product of the brain processing the day's experiences, activities and emotions into memory, and consolidating those memories. Fascinating stuff, but still an area for research.

 

Scientists do generally agree, though, that psychoanalytical notions of dreams as cunningly coded wish-fulfilment is hogwash.

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I'm sure studies have been done, etc....But my own personal 'take' on it (completely unscientific) would be, just residual memories whizzing about your mind...Let's face it, if the brain shut down during sleep, we wouldn't wake up!

I think there's an element of that, but given that dreams usually aren't a direct reflection of our experiences and hence our memories (including the memories we misremember or elaborate), I believe the process is more active than that. For example, your dream might reflect a very familiar theme or preoccupation or even a representation of a familiar event, but the dream environment could be completely novel.

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