The Influence of Dreams in Memory: How Has Dream Theory Changed?Por: Juliana Gelvez (801)

"Dreams are useful for consolidating motor aspects (of movement), that is, motor memory. Dreams recall motor actions and serve, in some cases, to review something done during the day and find solutions." states the recognized psychologist Campos Servera. Dreams are scientifically explained as human representations of waking life while our brain is resting, but they become useful at a neuronal level, improving memory and remembering things, such as dreaming in another language or dreaming about a place you traveled to yesterday. This information is not acquired, it is a mixture of past events you have experienced, however, this statement was not accepted for a long time, scientists such as Freud believed dreams had a spiritual meaning. In fact, dreams are a physiological reaction supported by real evidence. The study of dreams is attributed to scientists such as Allan Hobson, Robert McCarley, Matthew Walker, Stephen LaBerge, and Aserinsky. All of them have investigated in depth lucid dreams and memory improvement beyond the emotional realm.

In 1953, the German psychiatrist Eugene Aserinsky and his teacher, Nathaniel Kleitman, noticed nighttime periods characterized by the fast movement of eyes while dreaming through studies of brain activity. “Observing eye movements... gave us the first analytical and objective clue that the brain was doing something active and intricate during deep sleep,” he said. They discovered that, when a person is awakened during this period, it is likely that they will remember a REM (Rapid Eye Movement) dream later. A REM dream tends to follow a relatively logical sequence based on experiences. Aserinsky reached this theory by studying the brains of many children, including his own son. A REM dream is a predictable phase, consequently, when a person reacts while having this dream, he will probably remember it. Normally, we forget dreams because our prefrontal cortex is not fully active during this stage. This discovery, published on September 4, 1953, in the magazine Science, triggered many scientific studies.

In an emotional perspective, dreams are helpful for consolidating emotions, process memories and allowing the brain organize knowledge acquired. Of course, it also can be explained with a scientific perspective, such as J. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley presented in 1977 in The American Journal of Psychiatry. "The brain is so relentlessly bent on the search for meaning that it attributes and even creates meaning when there is little or no meaning in the data it is asked to process." explained Hobson. After the discovery of REM dreams, they asked themselves “Why does the brain create stories while dreaming?” They contradicted Freud by saying that dreams were not a reflection of the soul “While many, or even most, of these ideas may be nonsensical, if just a few of your fantasies turn out to be truly useful, then our sleep time will not have been in vain.” he said. Hobson explained that dreaming is a way where the brain may organize information composed of two phases: an activation, when the brainstem circuits are activated and send random electrical signals to the cerebral cortex; and the synthesis, when the cerebral cortex tries to make sense of this information, creating images and situations. For instance, if you saw a traffic accident in the morning, your brain may try to analyze it by remembering and mixing it with other situations at night.

During the 2000’s, people stopped studying the operation of dreams and began focusing on their utility. In 2006, Matthew Walker published in scientific magazines his achievements about the purpose of dreams. “Sleep is not an optional luxury. It is a non-negotiable biological necessity. Sleep is the most effective life support system we have, and nature's effort to keep us healthy and sane,” he stated in an interview. Sleeping is necessary for mental health because it helps the brain process and retain information. For that reason, if a person stays awake for days, they could develop memory problems. While this process occurs, it doesn’t matter if it is a non-REM or a REM dream, the brain transports this information to the hippocampus, cleans up unnecessary connections, and saves what is truly important for daily life.

In conclusion, dreams have been an investigated topic many years ago, and it have evolved significantly, passing from a spiritual meaning to a scientific and beneficial one. Dreams can be defined as the tries of our brain to make sense of all the information collected during the day, so, we can conclude that we cannot dream about things we have never seen before. The sleeping process is very important to save the knowledge and organize thoughts, even dreams are capable of regulating your mental health. Moreover, having a REM dream is a vivid example where we can experience a state of consciousness and unconsciousness at the same time, giving a different perspective and encouraging people to maintain healthy sleeping habits. Finally, resting not only gives you a relaxing time, it also improves memory and the learning process. However, there is a lot to investigate.