The Study of the Mind: A Psychological Book Club discussion

As we all know psychology has a wide area of topics an interests. In the study of cognitive psychology or how the mind works there are numerous topics but one of the most interesting/fun one is dreams.

There are a lot of books, websites, and so on about dreams. Lets have some fun with this topic!

What are your views on dreams?
DO they hold any weight in the psychology field?
Anything you want to share on dreams?

I was always told most people dream in black and white. However, I personally cannot recall any black and white dreams myself.

After seeing your post I found this 2008 dream study about color versus black and white. I,like you,do not recall ever having dreamed in black and white and did not realize that people did. I never thought about it, my dreams pretty much look like 3D day to day perspective looks - sometimes more abstract and surreal,but not usually significantly so.
http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/...

I like the factor of age in those studies but I also like the indication of possibly technology playing a factor in the dreams....

Reading the comments below the article people vary in their sensory experiences in dreams. Those for me have always been the same as waking with the exception of hearing music in dreams - musical notes always seem to really vibrate with energy, rather than passive listening.

It really is a fascinating area, full of interesting little facts and observations. For instance, apparently the people in our dreams are all people we have seen before. So every single person who has ever featured in any of our dreams is somebody who exists in reality. We may not have met them - maybe just seen them on television - but I still think that it’s amazing that our mind would retain that information and then use it to form a dream.

I've actually spent a lot of time researching dreams and sleep disorders. Initially this was to help myself with weird things that were happening to me (such as sleep paralysis), and then because I decided to write a novel based on some of my experiences.

There have also been theories that suggest that dreams are our minds attempt at making sense of the things we are feeling while asleep. So little noises from the street, or changes in temperature, even a partner’s leg brushing against us, might result in our minds trying to create a story/explanation for the physical feelings. Personally I think this is a bit of a stretch, but the fact that the theory exists and has been debated is so interesting (to me anyway..!)

I could go on, but don't want to bore everybody, but yes, dreams are absolutely fascinating.

In a class I am attending we are focusing on memory and cognition. Quality sleep is essential to memory consolidation. Much of our dreaming is this consolidation process, in short distributing the days events to the proper type of long term memory, located in different parts of the brain. Often these form narratives according to this academic article which explains it well. The researcher was doing a study on how stress,like depression,interferes with this process. While this does take some mystery out of the process of dreaming it is an amazing example of how intricately and tirelessly our brains are at work in transformation.

http://library.ucls.uchicago.edu/Firs...

Angelo wrote: "It really is a fascinating area, full of interesting little facts and observations. For instance, apparently the people in our dreams are all people we have seen before. So every single person wh..."

I always had a strong feeling that everyone in my dreams I have seen at least once in my life whether it was just a glance or someone I saw on television. I find this to be interesting because when we are conscious an awake we are very capable of making up a person in our minds without seeing anyone and yet when we dream are subconscious pull images from actual reality.

I also agree a little with the theories that suggest that in dreams are minds attempting to make things while we are asleep. I know for me I have woken up in a tangled mess in my sheets for some strange reason and I can remember in my dream feeling restrained and struggling to move so I believe there is some merit to these theories.

Melanie wrote: "In a class I am attending we are focusing on memory and cognition. Quality sleep is essential to memory consolidation. Much of our dreaming is this consolidation process, in short distributing the ..."

Interesting article. I do find the biological approach to dreaming interesting and even though it does take out some of the mystery when it comes to dreaming it does not remove it all. As the first sentence of the paper stated there really is no convincing explanations of why and what we dream about.

Thank you for sharing this article

Courtney wrote: "Angelo wrote: "It really is a fascinating area, full of interesting little facts and observations. For instance, apparently the people in our dreams are all people we have seen before. So every s..."

I've had a similar experience actually. I used to dream a lot about drowning, and would really fight to wake up and get myself breathing again. (This was as horrible as it sounds by the way..!)

Anyway, I found that once I started sleeping on my back, I didn't have this problem. I suffer a lot with sleep paralysis, and so I think I was falling asleep face down, then half-waking up and 'paralysed', which my mind interpreted as drowning/being suffocated.

I channeled all of these experiences into my latest novel - which unsurprisingly is a horror story about sleep disorders/being attacked in your dreams!

Angelo wrote: "Courtney wrote: "Angelo wrote: "It really is a fascinating area, full of interesting little facts and observations. For instance, apparently the people in our dreams are all people we have seen be..."

I would be very interested in this book. Have you put it books to share section?

Hi Courtney,

I'm not sure how to do that actually...!

And am I allowed to add my own book? I'm not sure what the rules are ;-)

I believe this article would be pertinent to this discussion. The title is Dreaming Still Possible Even When the Mind is Blank

It discusses not only dreams, but another illness which actually exhibits a complete absence of thought, AAD (Auto Activation Deficit)

"...case studies of patients with Auto-Activation Deficit who reported dreams when awakened from REM sleep -- even when they demonstrated a mental blank during the daytime"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/...

Courtney wrote: "Angelo wrote: "Courtney wrote: "Angelo wrote: "It really is a fascinating area, full of interesting little facts and observations. For instance, apparently the people in our dreams are all people ..."

Ok, I've found the section now.

Will add my book to it.

Thanks Courtney!