What purpose do Dreams serve?

[TV's Frank]

Everybody here has posted some very interesting stuff, but I would just like to add a couple points/questions:

1) Some people have mentioned the usefulness of dreams in problem-solving. Indeed, this has happened to me: go to sleep with a problem, wake up with a solution. However, during my waking hours I solve problems almost constantly. I would say that the number of problems I solve when awake greatly outnumbers those I solve when asleep. And I should also mention that it's not my most difficult problems that I solve when sleeping.

2) My dog has dreams. Or, at least, he appears to be having dog-dreams. He'll lay there, fully out, then start growling, barking quietly, breathing heavily....all with eyes closed and at full-speed REM. Why does my dog dream? Especially if dreams are linked to consciousness....and I'm pretty sure my dog is not conscious.

3) Also: if I can sometimes become aware that I am having a dream, can my dog be "aware" that he's having a dog dream? I can remember my dreams, and I can tell that they are different from waking experiences (although, of course, usually in the dream I cannot tell that it is a dream). Now...can a dog tell the difference?

Discuss.

 

[Cecil]

I myself have to agree with the idea that it is only the illusion of control as total control would allow for a complete 8 or atleast 6 to 4 hours of dream control in the average 8 hours or sleep a night wouldnt it? I mean, does anyone ever recall a 4 hour chunk of dreaming? All mine seem very broken and in very VERY short chunks at best.

Well, we know that dreams only happen in short segments of at most 30 minutes. There are several "stages" of sleep, numbered 1 through 4, plus one called REM (Rapid Eye Movement). It's so called because people's eyes move around rapidly when they're in REM. We know (from waking people up at the right time) that dreams only happen in REM sleep. So really, you only spend about an hour or so dreaming each night.

Also, I've read that the average person has multiple dreams EVERY night that they actually get considerable amounts of sleep. But I question this theory as well because I gotta wonder who claimed to be able to tell that it wasnt just one continual dream that they could not recall parts of and thus concluded it was multiple dreams simply because they couldnt remember the gaps?

Again, the fact that dreams only happen in REM sleep is very handy, as it gives researchers a way of telling whether people are dreaming at any given time.

Also, I can't get over the fact that many nightmares have woken me up, sometimes I've also immediately continued an action from a dream into the waking world such as running. I wake up throwing my legs outward and raising my arms. This has happend on more than one occasion. If the brain can turn my dream self that is running into signals telling my ACTUAL parts to move without me consciously willing it to do so...perhaps inducing dreams without actually knowing your dreaming could be of use in unlocking part of the subconscious?

Actually, your muscles always try to move when you're moving in your dream. The only reason they don't is because your brain secretes a hormone that paralyses your muscles. Sleep paralysis (when you wake up to find you cannot move) is a common occurrence. It lasts for up to a minute and is caused by this hormone not wearing off in time.

And you have an interesting point about unlocking parts of your subconscious. I've noticed that interesting insights can be obtained by talking with people you meet in lucid dreams. It almost seems as though there responses come from the subconscious (whatever that word means, anyway )

Also, I can't help but recall my school years of listening to the radio to help me get to sleep. Living in the country silence was unbearable to me so I just let my favorite station play at night and thought nothing of it. But, I only did this at night because I didnt get a car until I was much older and so I really only heard the radio right before falling asleep and right after waking up which was when I shut it off and yet then randomly during the day I would find myself attaching peoples words and phrases to songs and lyrics without knowing where I was getting them from. I even often had dreams where the music was playing IN THE DREAM and the music was the same genre of the station I listened to at night. Somehow I was just memorizing this stuff while I slept. I've heard of this concept before and it makes me think that if the brain can not only recieve data while sleeping then maybe it can or even is sending data out.

This is certainly possible. I used to have my alarm set to play music instead of that horrible buzzing. On several occasions, I incorporated the radio station into my dream. It is quite common for people to hear things in their dream that are happening around them. I think it's a bit of a leap from there to the idea that the brain is sending data out. Can you clarify what you mean? I've walked around in my sleep a handful of times in my life, and my girlfriend tells me I mutter things. Is that what you're talking about?

 

[Cecil]

3) Also: if I can sometimes become aware that I am having a dream, can my dog be "aware" that he's having a dog dream? I can remember my dreams, and I can tell that they are different from waking experiences (although, of course, usually in the dream I cannot tell that it is a dream). Now...can a dog tell the difference?

While I agree that dogs very likely have primary consciousness (awareness of concrete objects), I am very hesitant to grant them reflective consciousness (awareness of their own thoughts, feelings, or consciousness).

Thus, I would disagree that dogs could distinguish their dreaming state from their waking state, given that they probably can't even conceive of a "state of consciousness".

 

[Patricio Elicer]

I think a broader question is: what purpose does sleep serve?. There's an appealing speculation attempting to answer this question by means of a computer-brain analogy. All in all, the brain is also a computer, but far more sophisticated than an ordinary one.

In simple words, the speculation goes along these lines: as the computer's memory fills up with information, its speed and efficiency are reduced, to the point that it may eventually crash. So for it to work properly, useless information must be removed every now and then. But the information removal can't be done efficiently while the computer is busy working.

Likewise, our brains store huge amounts of information, all kinds of sensory inputs, during our waking hours. As the memory fills up we start feeling "tired", and the need for sleep becomes urgent. Like the computer, the brain can't get rid of useless information while processing new sensory inputs, that's why, according to the speculation, we need to sleep. In other words, "we sleep in order to forget".

Dreams may be a kind of "by-product" of this information removal process. While electrical impulses are removing the garbage from the brain, they may activate adjacent neurons producing patterns that are essentially random, which may explain the fact that dreams are basically nonsense.

The article I took this idea from is called "Post- Freudian Dream Theory", by Martin Gardner. It's in the January/February 1996 issue of Skeptical Inquirer for all interested. Unfortunatly, seems it's not available online.

 

[Wowbagger]

2) My dog has dreams. Or, at least, he appears to be having dog-dreams. He'll lay there, fully out, then start growling, barking quietly, breathing heavily....all with eyes closed and at full-speed REM. Why does my dog dream? Especially if dreams are linked to consciousness....and I'm pretty sure my dog is not conscious.

I am pretty sure your dog is conscious. All animals probably are, to some extent. The next question is, is the dog sentient (self-aware)? That is one I can only fathom about.

Let us assume your dog does have dreams (although there really is no conclusive way to know for sure). Why would you assume such dreams would even serve a purpose? Why can't the phenomenon of dreams simply be accidental?

3) Also: if I can sometimes become aware that I am having a dream, can my dog be "aware" that he's having a dog dream? I can remember my dreams, and I can tell that they are different from waking experiences (although, of course, usually in the dream I cannot tell that it is a dream). Now...can a dog tell the difference?

To answer this, you first have to answer if the dog is sentient. Good luck with that!

 

[uruk]

Dreams may be a kind of "by-product" of this information removal process. While electrical impulses are removing the garbage from the brain, they may activate adjacent neurons producing patterns that are essentially random, which may explain the fact that dreams are basically nonsense.

I read a similar explination that dreams are caused by random signals being sent from the hypocampus during the sleep cycle to the neocortex that stimulate memories or mimic sensory inputs and the neo cortex tries to process it by linking the random images into a stream or pattern. Dreams are essentially random nonsense that the conciousnes tries to "make sense".