Dream :: essays research papers

DREAMSTheories attempting to explain the origin and functions of paradoxical sleep sleep include (1) thatREM sleep provides stimulation for the development of the promontory (2) that it performs a chemical reappearance function, since during REM dreaming neuro-protein synthesis occurs along with therestoration of other miserable brain chemicals (3) that it provides oculomotor (eye movement)coordination, since during non-REM sleep the eyes move independently of individually other (4) that itprovides a vigilance function, since REM sleep (stage I) is characterized by a level ofconsciousness close to the awakened state (5) in a more recent and controversial theory, REMdreaming performs a neurological erasure function, eliminating extraneous information build-up inthe repositing system and (6) that, in a more cognitive psychological explanation, REM dreamingenhances memory storage and reorganization.Contrary to popular belief, dreaming is not caused by have certain foods beforebed time, nor by environmental stimuli during sleeping. Dreaming is caused by inside biologicalprocess. Some researchers have proposed the activation-synthesis hypothesis. Theirneurological research bodes that large brain cells in the primitive brain stem spontaneously fire round every 90 minutes, sending random stimuli to cortical areas of the BRAIN. As aconsequence, memory, sensory, muscle-control, and cognitive areas of the brain are randomlystimulated, resulting in the higher cortical brain attempting to make some sense of it. This,according to the research, gives rise to the encounter of a dream.Now, as in the past, the most significant controversy centers on the question of whether dreamshave intentional, or actual personal, meaning. Many psychotherapists maintain that bit theneurological impulses from the brain stem may activate the dreaming process, the subject matter ormeaningful representations in dreams are caused by nonconscious needs, wishes, desires, and frequent conc erns of the dreamer. Thus, such psychotherapists subscribe to thephenomenological-clinical, or "top-down," explanation, which holds that dreams are intentionallymeaningful messages from the unconscious. The neurological, or "bottom-up," explanationmaintains that dreams have no intentional meaning. In between these twain positions is anapproach called content analysis. Content analysis simply describes and classifies the variousrepresentations in dreams, such as people, houses, cars, trees, animals, and color, though nodeep interpretation is attributed to the content. Differences in content have been discoveredbetween the dreams of males and females, and between dreams and occurring in dissimilardevelopmental stages of life. What these differences mean is under investigation.Some recent research seems to indicate that dream content reflects problems that thedreamer experiences in life, and that the function of such dreams is to expedite the emotionalresolution of t he problems.