There is a science in the world that studies dreams - oneirology. This scientific discipline combines the features of neuroscience, psychology and even literature, but does not give an answer to the main question - why do people still see dreams? Let there be no convincing solution to the puzzle yet, but there are several interesting hypotheses on this score, here are some of them …
Hidden desires
One of the first to start studying dreams was the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. After analyzing the dreams of hundreds of his patients, Freud developed a theory that some of his followers still adhere to: dreams are suppressed desires and hidden desires of people.
In a dream, according to Freud, people see what they want to achieve, literally or symbolically. For example, if a person dreamed that his mother died, this does not mean at all that he subconsciously wants to kill her - the Freudian interpretation speaks of a certain conflict between mother and son, while the problem has a simple and effective solution, but the mother does not know about it. Thus, the death of the mother in a dream is a mediated image of conflict resolution.
Sigmund Freud.
Studying dreams, the founder of the psychoanalytic method helped his clients bring out such deeply hidden fears and aspirations that they themselves did not even suspect what was hidden in their subconscious.
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Side effect of electrical activity in the brain
Freud's theory speaks of the rethinking that human experience is subjected to in dreams. And psychiatrist Alan Hobson, the author of another popular theory explaining the occurrence of dreams, on the contrary, argues that dreams do not carry any semantic load - they are just the result of random electrical impulses that arise in the parts of the brain responsible for emotions, perception and memories.
Alan Hobson.
Hobson called his theory the "action-synthetic model", according to which the brain simply tries to interpret random signals, which leads to the emergence of colorful or not-so-great stories.
The "Action-Synthetic Model" may also explain why some people tend to create fictional works of literature, which are inherently nothing more than a kind of "waking dreams" created by interpreting the signals received by the limbic system of the brain from the outside world.
Getting rid of unnecessary trash
The so-called "reverse learning theory" states that dreams help people get rid of some of the unnecessary associations and connections that form in the human brain throughout the day. We can say that dreams serve as a kind of "garbage disposal" mechanism, clearing the head of unwanted and useless thoughts. This avoids the overload of the large amount of information that inevitably enters the brain every day.
Sending short-term memories for long-term storage
Perhaps dreams are indeed the result of random nerve impulses, but what if these impulses are not random at all? This idea was put forward by the psychiatrist Zhang Jie, who called it "the theory of constant activation."
Zhang Jie believes that the brain is constantly passing through many memories, regardless of whether the person is asleep or awake. At the moment when short-term memories are transferred for long-term storage to the departments of long-term memory, dreams arise.
Systematization of information received during the day
This hypothesis is the exact opposite of the "reverse learning theory": according to it, dreams are a process of organizing and memorizing information.
Several studies support this idea, the results of which show that a person is better at remembering information received immediately before going to bed. Like Zhang Jie with his "theory of constant activation", the apologists of this hypothesis are sure that dreams help a person to comprehend and systematize the information he has acquired during the day.
Another confirmation of this hypothesis is provided by recent studies, during which it was revealed that if a person falls asleep soon after some unpleasant incident, then, upon waking up, he will remember everything perfectly, as if it happened only a few minutes ago. Therefore, if there is a suspicion of psychological trauma, it is better not to give the victim the maximum amount of time to sleep - the absence of dreams will help to erase unpleasant impressions from memory.
A modified protective instinct that humans inherited from animals
Several scientists have conducted studies showing clear similarities between the behavior of animals that pretend to be "dead" to avoid death, and the state of a person when he dreams.
At the moment of "viewing" dreams, the brain works in the same way as during wakefulness, except for the motor activity of the body. At the same time, the same is observed in animals when they pose as a corpse in the hope that the predator will not touch them. Therefore, it is quite possible that a person inherited dreams from distant animal ancestors, having undergone some changes in the process of evolution, because a modern person has no need to pretend to be dead.
Simulated threat
The theory of protective instinct fits perfectly with the idea of the eminent Finnish philosopher and neurologist Antti Revonusuo. He suggested that the biological function of dreams is to simulate various dangerous situations for practicing and "rehearsing" the body's reactions. A person who in his dreams often encounters any threats, in the event of a real danger, will act more confidently, since the situation is already "familiar" to him. Such training, according to Revonusuo, favorably affects the survival of a particular human individual and the species as a whole.
Antti Revonusuo.
This hypothesis has one significant drawback: it does not explain why sometimes a person has positive dreams that do not carry any threat or warning.
Solution to the problem
This hypothesis, developed by Harvard University psychology professor Deirdre Barrett, is similar to the idea put forward by the Finnish scientist Antti Revonsuo.
Professor Barrett believes that dreams serve as a kind of theater for a person, on the stage of which you can find answers to many questions and solutions to some problems, while in a dream the brain works more efficiently, because it is able to form new associative connections faster.
Deirdre Barrett.
Deirdre draws conclusions based on his research, during which it was revealed that if a person sets a certain task before going to bed, then after waking up he solves it faster than those who were simply asked to solve it, without giving the opportunity to "spy" the answer in a dream.
Natural selection theory of thoughts
The idea of solving problems through dreams is close to the so-called theory of natural selection of thoughts, developed by psychologist Mark Blechner. This is how he describes dreams:
“A dream is a stream of random images, some of which the brain selects and stores for later use. Dreams consist of many variants of feelings, emotions, thoughts and some other higher mental functions, some of which undergo a kind of natural selection and are stored in memory."
Mark Blechner.
Psychologist Richard Coates, in turn, is sure that in a dream, the brain simulates various situations in order to choose the most appropriate emotional reactions. That is why in the morning people usually do not worry about the disturbing and scary stories seen in a dream - the brain makes it clear that in this way it is just "rehearsing".
Smoothing out negative experiences through symbolic associations
Proponents of this theory are convinced that sleep is not a stream of random images or imitation of various emotional reactions, but rather a therapeutic session.
Ernest Hartman, one of the founders of the so-called Modern Theory of Dreams, psychiatrist and researcher of the nature of sleep, writes:
“If any bright emotion prevails in a person, his dreams are simple, if not primitive. For example, survivors of some kind of psychological trauma often dream something like: “I was lying on the beach, but suddenly I was washed away by a huge wave.” This is a fairly common option: in a dream, a person sees not a specific event, but a monosyllabic emotion, for example, fear. If several things disturb the falling asleep at once, then his dreams will have a more complex structure. The higher the emotional arousal of a person, the brighter the dreams that he will see will be.
Ernest Hartman.
Hartman believes that dreams are an evolutionary mechanism through which the brain smooths out the negative consequences of psychological trauma, presenting them to a person in a dream in the form of certain symbols and associative images.