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Dream: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Dream
In the Old English language, the word dream did not mean what it means today. Instead, it described noise, joy, or music, a linguistic shift that occurred only in the thirteenth century when the term began to describe the series of thoughts and images occurring during sleep. This transformation was likely influenced by the Old Norse word draumr, which carried the modern meaning. For thousands of years, the human experience of sleep was not defined by the visual narratives we recognize, but by the auditory and emotional resonance of the waking world. The ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, writing in the third millennium BCE, viewed dreams not as internal psychological events but as authoritative messages from deities or forebears. These visitation dreams were not passive visualizations but commands that dictated post-dream behaviors, often requiring the dreamer to rebuild temples or take specific political actions. King Gudea of Lagash, who reigned from 2144 to 2124 BCE, is a prime example of this ancient worldview. He rebuilt the temple of Ningirsu specifically because a dream figure commanded him to do so, treating the dream as a divine order rather than a mental exercise. This authoritative auditory messaging was the dominant framework for understanding dreams until the classical era, when the passive hearing of such commands gave way to visualized narratives where the dreamer became an active participant in their own story.
The Science of Sleep
The scientific study of dreams, known as oneirology, has struggled to pinpoint the exact origin of dreaming within the brain. While it is known that dreams occur mainly during the rapid-eye movement stage of sleep, when brain activity resembles that of being awake, the precise mechanism remains elusive. Researchers cannot specify dream physiology in detail because protocols in most nations restrict human brain research to non-invasive procedures. In the United States, invasive brain procedures are allowed only when necessary for surgical treatment, leaving scientists to rely on electroencephalogram voltage averaging or cerebral blood flow measurements that cannot identify small but influential neuronal populations. The study of animal subjects offers some clues, as the Society for Neuroscience notes that no adequate alternatives exist, yet animal dreaming can only be inferred, not confirmed. This limitation means that much of what is known about the neurophysiology of dreams comes from examining human subjects with brain lesions, which cannot discriminate between the effects of destruction and disconnection. Despite these challenges, the discovery of REM sleep in 1953 by Aserinsky and Kleitman marked a turning point, linking dreams to a distinct phase of sleep. However, even after this discovery, many studies purporting to uncover the function of dreams were actually studying REM sleep rather than the dream phenomena itself. The current consensus suggests that dreaming involves large numbers of regions and pathways, likely different for different dream events, rather than a single origin point.
Common questions
What did the word dream mean in Old English before the thirteenth century?
In Old English, the word dream described noise, joy, or music rather than sleep narratives. This linguistic shift occurred in the thirteenth century when the term began to describe the series of thoughts and images occurring during sleep. The transformation was likely influenced by the Old Norse word draumr.
When was REM sleep discovered and who discovered it?
The discovery of REM sleep occurred in 1953 by Aserinsky and Kleitman. This discovery marked a turning point by linking dreams to a distinct phase of sleep. Despite this finding, many studies purporting to uncover the function of dreams were actually studying REM sleep rather than the dream phenomena itself.
What theories explain the function of dreams according to modern science?
Modern theories include the activation-synthesis hypothesis proposed by Hobson and McCarley in 1977 and the reverse learning theory offered by Crick and Mitchison in 1983. Hartmann proposed a quasi-therapeutic function in 1995, while Revonsuo introduced the threat simulation hypothesis in 2000. More recently, Eagleman and Vaughn proposed a defensive activation theory in 2021.
How do different religions interpret the meaning of dreams?
Ancient Hebrews believed dreams were the voice of one God alone and differentiated between good dreams from God and bad dreams from evil spirits. In Islam, dream interpretation is the only way that Muslims can receive revelations from God since the death of the last prophet Muhammad. The Somniale Danielis attempted to teach Christian populations to interpret their dreams.
How often do adults remember their dreams and what affects recall?
Adults report remembering around two dreams per week on average. Dream content that is novel, intense, or unusual is more easily remembered according to the salience hypothesis. People who score high on measures of personality traits associated with creativity, imagination, and fantasy tend to show more frequent dream recall.
When was the first successful recording of communication from a lucid dreamer?
The first successful recording of communication from a dreamer occurred on the 12th of April 1975. Psychologist Keith Hearne recorded a subject who agreed to move his eyes left and right upon becoming lucid. This event scientifically verified the occurrence of lucid dreaming.
For centuries, the function of dreams was debated through the lens of biology and psychology, with theories ranging from the preservation of sleep to the processing of trauma. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, argued that dreams serve the purpose of prolonging sleep by representing fulfilled wishes that would otherwise awaken the dreamer, effectively acting as the guardians of sleep rather than its disturbers. This view stood in contrast to earlier hypotheses, such as that of Robert, a physician from Hamburg in 1886, who suggested that dreams erase sensory impressions and ideas not fully worked up during the day. Modern theories have continued to evolve, with Hobson and McCarley proposing the activation-synthesis hypothesis in 1977, which suggested a functional role for dreaming in promoting learning. Crick and Mitchison offered a reverse learning theory in 1983, comparing dreams to the cleaning-up operations of computers removing parasitic nodes and junk from the mind. Hartmann proposed a quasi-therapeutic function in 1995, enabling the dreamer to process trauma in a safe place, while Revonsuo introduced the threat simulation hypothesis in 2000, suggesting that dreaming aided survival by replicating physical and interpersonal threats. More recently, Eagleman and Vaughn proposed a defensive activation theory in 2021, arguing that dreams evolved as a visual hallucinatory activity to busy the occipital lobe during sleep's darkness, protecting it from appropriation by other sense operations. Erik Hoel has further suggested that dreams prevent overfitting to past experiences, enabling the dreamer to learn from novel situations. These theories collectively highlight the complexity of dream function, which remains a subject of intense scientific inquiry.
The Soul's Journey
Dreams have played a central role in the development of religious thought, with the dream experience for early humans giving rise to the notion of a human soul. J. W. Dunne wrote that the idea of a soul must have first arisen in the mind of primitive man as a result of observation of his dreams, where he left his sleeping body in one universe and wandered into another. In Hinduism, the Mandukya Upanishad, written before 300 BCE, describes dreams as one of three states the soul experiences, alongside the waking and sleep states. The ancient Hebrews connected their dreams heavily with their religion, believing that dreams were the voice of one God alone, and they differentiated between good dreams from God and bad dreams from evil spirits. The Hebrew prophet Samuel would lie down and sleep in the temple at Shiloh to receive the word of the Lord, while Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream of seven lean cows swallowing seven fat cows as a prediction of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. In Christianity, the most famous dream story is Jacob's dream of a ladder stretching from Earth to Heaven, and many Christians believe that God can speak to people through their dreams. The Somniale Danielis, a glossary written in the name of Daniel, attempted to teach Christian populations to interpret their dreams. In Islam, dream interpretation is the only way that Muslims can receive revelations from God since the death of the last prophet, Muhammad, and the Quran recounts the story of Joseph and his unique ability to interpret dreams. The Dreaming is a common term within the animist creation narrative of indigenous Australians, representing a personal or group creation and the timeless time of formative creation.
The Unreliable Memory
The recollection of dreams is extremely unreliable, though it is a skill that can be trained. Adults report remembering around two dreams per week on average, and unless a dream is particularly vivid or one wakes during or immediately after it, the content is typically not remembered. The salience hypothesis proposes that dream content that is novel, intense, or unusual is more easily remembered, and there is considerable evidence that vivid, intense, or unusual dream content is more frequently recalled. People who score high on measures of personality traits associated with creativity, imagination, and fantasy tend to show more frequent dream recall. However, the reliability of dream memory has led to skepticism about the predictive power of dreams. In one experiment, subjects were asked to write down their dreams in a diary, which prevented the selective memory effect, and the dreams no longer seemed accurate about the future. Another experiment gave subjects a fake diary of a student with apparently precognitive dreams, and when subjects were asked to recall the dreams they had read, they remembered more of the successful predictions than unsuccessful ones. This suggests that the belief in the predictive power of dreams is often a result of memory biases, namely a selective memory for accurate predictions and distorted memory so that dreams are retrospectively fitted onto life experiences. Despite these limitations, dream journals can be used to assist dream recall, and the study of dream recollection continues to provide insights into the nature of memory and consciousness.
The Lucid State
Lucid dreaming represents a conscious perception of one's state while dreaming, where the dreamer may have some degree of control over their own actions within the dream or even the characters and the environment. The occurrence of lucid dreaming has been scientifically verified, with the first successful recording of communication from a dreamer occurring on the 12th of April 1975, when psychologist Keith Hearne recorded a subject who agreed to move his eyes left and right upon becoming lucid. Years later, psychophysiologist Stephen LaBerge conducted similar work, using eye signals to map the subjective sense of time in dreams and comparing the electrical activity of the brain while singing awake and while dreaming. Communication between two dreamers has also been documented, involving EEG monitoring, ocular signaling, and the incorporation of reality in the form of red light stimuli. The processes involved included a coordinating website that tracked when both dreamers were dreaming and sent the stimulus to one of the dreamers, who, upon becoming lucid, signaled with eye movements. This was detected by the website, whereupon the stimulus was sent to the second dreamer, invoking incorporation into that dreamer's dream. The term oneironaut is sometimes used for those who lucidly dream, and the ability to control aspects of the dream is not necessary for a dream to qualify as lucid, as a lucid dream is any dream during which the dreamer knows they are dreaming. This state has been reported to improve with practiced deliberate lucid dreaming, offering a unique opportunity to explore the boundaries of consciousness and control.