47 replies to this topic

[vbnautilus]

The other big theory right now which isn't quite mentioned in that article is memory consolidation. The idea is that dreams constitute a sort of rehearsal process which helps memories burn in. There's some evidence for this -- sleep deprivation can lead to worse memory for things the night before -- which is part of the reason staying up all night before a test is not a great strategy. The activation-synthesis model I think is probably the most reasonable description of where dream content comes from in the brain.I sometimes do the following demo in class: One student leaves the room. She is told that while she is gone, someone will recount a dream. When she comes back she must learn about the content of the dream by asking only yes or no questions. Her goal is to "psychoanalyze" the dream and determine who dreamt it (if the class is small enough, or just if it was a male or female in larger classes). However, when the student leaves the room I tell the rest of the class that they will answer according to the following rule: if the last letter of the question is A-M we answer "yes" otherwise "no". In other words, our answers are random, but unified. The dream narrative that results from this process is a result of the questions the person chooses to ask, and our random confirmations/disconfirmations. The trick is that the origin of the dream is of course the student herself -- it reflects what is on her mind, and is also random/bizarre.

[Flushgarden]

I had an odd dream the other night.For some reason unknown to me I had to push a mattress along the side of a road every day. It was the same route every day, and the total round trip was about 40 miles. The half-way point was a house (I don't know who's house it is), where I was allowed to take a short break before I had to turn around and push the mattress back to where it came from. On this particular day in my dream when I got to the house my wife was there with a lot of people that I knew from high school. They were playing volleyball and socializing and having fun and stuff. However when I attempted to talk to anybody I was completely ignored. It was like they couldn't see me. I think the high school people are there because I recently was coerced into joining facebook and have come into contact with a lot of old friends and acquaintances. I still can't figure out why I had to push a mattress for 40 miles every day or why I was being ignored/unable to be seen. I do remember having a feeling of shame because I had to push the mattress.

[suicideking]

Flushgarden, on Monday, July 27th, 2009, 7:54 AM, said:

a feeling of shame because I had to push the mattress.

Hate your job?

[Flushgarden]

suicideking, on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009, 6:27 PM, said:

Hate your job?

I have hated previous jobs but right now I play poker for a living. Sometimes its a grind and can be stressful, but I love it and wouldn't trade it for a real job.

[chaselove]

I use dreambible.com when I get weird dreams.

[brvheart]

chaselove, on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012, 8:25 AM, said:

I use dreambible.com when I get weird dreams.

If you're a spammer, that was clever. Nice work.

[Mercury69]

OK, I'll go out on a limb here.what does it mean when I dream I can suck my own dick?

[CobaltBlue]

Mercury69, on Friday, March 23rd, 2012, 11:50 AM, said:

OK, I'll go out on a limb here.what does it mean when I dream I can suck my own dick?

That you're male?