Psychology and Neuroscience Stack Exchange
Psychology and Neuroscience Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [dreams]

Questions about the scientific basis of the imagery and sensations that are experienced primarily during rapid eye movement sleep and occasionally during other stages as well.

For questions about the scientific basis of the imagery and sensations that are experienced primarily during rapid eye movement sleep and occasionally during other stages as well.

For further information see Dreams, REM sleep, Stages of sleep(particularly stage 2, NREM).

For some perspectives, see the more scientific Activation-synthesis hypothesis and the archaic The Interpretation of Dreams.

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Why dreams can be surprising?

If we all agree that dreams are created by our own minds, then how could some dreams surprise us, since, after all, all the things that could happen in a dream are made up by us, and should be utterly predictable and be of no surprise at all? For…
D.F.J.
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Are topics experienced later in the day more likely to be present in dreams?

Is there any evidence suggesting that thoughts or experiences from late in the day are more likely to be dreamed about the following night compared with similar experiences earlier in the day?
John R
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How can I dream things that are impossible?

I remember having dreams whose contents were physically impossible, to the point that when I thought about them afterwards, I couldn't reconcile them with reality in a meaningful way, although when I dreamed them, they seemed to be logical and…
Lou
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When are dreams created?

My question asks whether it is understood that dreams are created on-the-fly as they are experienced, or whether they are pre-recorded and played back to the dreamer. I have experienced interruptions such as loud noises become part of a dream, as if…
paulvs
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Do humans only dream of things they have actually witnessed/seen?

Is it necessary for humans to have dreams that only contain things they have witnessed/seen in their consciousness?
Bleeding Fingers
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Dreams and sleep phases, and duration of dreams

Supposedly, people mainly dream during REM sleep, and dreams last up to 20 minutes (see for example the first paragraphs of the Wikipedia article on Dreams). My subjective experience differs: No matter at what time I awake, I always awake from a…
user3116
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Why do we wake up from sleep (from a dream) as soon as we figure out reality?

In a dream why do we wake up when we figure out that its not real. I mean even in a lucid dream we are lost to some extent and as soon as we stop accepting the situation we tend to awaken?
Flood Gravemind
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Why are dreams about failing exams so common?

Why so many people have a dream in which they are just about to take a mandatory school exam and they're totally unprepared, or they've missed it because show up in the wrong day, or the exam is on the very next morning, etc.; and get extremely…
peppe
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The mathematics of dreams, or better, the dreaming of mathematics

I know that the meaning of dreams is a controversial topic and I do not think that they have a specific meaning, although I am certain, by experience, that dreams are deeply connected with what happens to us in everyday life. That is, most dreams…
eslukas
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Why is it so problematic to read in a dream?

Many activities are possible in dreams, but reading (and related tasks) is not one of them. In an dream with awareness, trying to read a label or enter a phone number can be very frustrating and can cause the dream to focus on trying to acheive what…
JDługosz
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How can dreams be in sync with real world sounds?

Some events in my dreams use the sounds from my (real world) surroundings. I don't understand how because it would mean my brain would know what sounds will happen before they happen. That obviously doesn't seem right. Example: In a dream, I look at…
Batesias
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Is there a place where I can find inconsistent images?

I would like to find some images in which there are logical inconsistencies. I want to use them for practicing my attention towards those kinds of logical errors (so that I could more easily spot them in my dreams, I am not sure if this works, but I…
yasar
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Can an external stimulus change the way your dream ends?

I sometimes have the experience that because of a thunder or some other kind of loud sound my dream ends in a way that seems to match with the loud sound. For example, the loud sound of a nearby thunder translates to something making a loud noise in…
Deschele Schilder
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Spiritual interpretation of dreams vs. scientific interpretation of dreams

What is the spiritual interpretation of dreams and the scientific interpretation of dreams? How are they different? Please give evidence.
kateferro
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Can the brain create it's own artificial time?

When we dream, does the brain create an artificial time for the dreams to take place in? As time in dreams can feel off sometimes. Are is this not possible?
Oisin Spain
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