How Dreams and Memory May Be Related - Research Paper Example

Memory and Dreams Introduction Sleep, dreams and memory are considered to be related to each other. Payne and Nadel (n. d) have argued that content of dreams reflects aspects of memory consolidation taking place during the different stages of sleep (Payne and Nadel, n. d). It is a fact that dreams normally take place when a person sleeps. At the same time most of the content of the dreams often related to the topics stored in the memory. Science has so far no evidence for the reasons of dreams and the purpose of dreams. Moreover it is difficult to judge that what subject may come in our dreams. Even though we have millions of information stored in our minds, it is not necessary that all such information may appear in the form of dreams or associate with the formation of dreams. Moreover, the content of some of the dreams may not be familiar to us and may not have any relations with our past experiences. Why dreams of unfamiliar nature occur? This paper tries to answer the above question and briefly analyses the relationship between sleep, dreams and memory. Dreams and Memory Dreams and memory are two different entities even though it may have some relationships. All the living things may have the memory power even though the capacity to memorize may be different for different living things and human beings. Same way most of the living things have the habit of dreaming also. Living things which have memory should have dreams also. The above fact is pointing towards the relationship between memory and dreams. Sleep is normally classified into two broad categories like deep sleep and normal sleep. Dreams can occur during any stages of sleep. But the dream recalling rate seems to be more when the person undergoes normal sleep compared to the deep sleep. The general perception about sleep is that while we are sleeping the conscious memory will be inactive while the unconscious memory will be active. “The hypermnesia of dreams may be explained by saying that sleep opens the door to the unconscious mind, where all past experiences are preserved in all detail” (Memory in Dreams, 2009). The topics stored in the unconscious memory will cause dreams according to many psychologists. For example, it is quiet possible that the stories or the incidents we came to know during my childhood may stored in the unconscious mind. We will forget such incidents when we grow up because of its absence in the conscious mind. At the same time such incidents will be active in the unconscious mind which will start working when we sleeping. Human memories can be of two types; long term memory and short term memory as in the case of a computer. Long term memories are just like the hard disk of a computer whereas the short term memories are like the Random Access Memory (RAM) of the computer. When the computer switches off all the information in the RAM will be lost whereas the information stored in the hard disk would stay there. Long term memory consolidation occurs in human brain with the help of complex interactions among multiple brain systems. It is generally assumed that long-term memory consolidation involves interactions among multiple brain systems, modulated by various neurotransmitters and neurohormones. The characteristics of dreams are best understood in the context of this neuromodulatory impact on the brain systems involved in memory consolidation (Payne and Nadel, n. d). Memory consolidation occurs with the help of the information extracted from experiences. If the experience is serious, memory consolidation occurs instantaneously. Other wise the memory consolidation can happen in a fragmented manner. For example, suppose we have faced serious car accident or some other accident. Such serious incidents and its characteristics will be stored in the permanent memory and it will continue there almost the entire life span of the person. On the other hand, silly incidents happened during our childhood may not result in memory consolidation and subsequently such things will be stored in a fragmented manner in the memory. It is difficult for us to recall such incidents after a long time. Dreams have strong relationships with the memory consolidation and fragmented memory. Payne and Nadel (n. d) have explained the relationship of dreams with fragmented memory; Dreams can be extremely fragmented, but they are rarely experienced as random sequences of associated images. When the waking brain is confronted with fragmented information, it attempts to synthesize these fragments into narrative themes even if the themes make little sense and we believe the same principle holds for the sleeping brain. Activated memory fragments and internally constructed narrative themes constitute dreams (Payne and Nadel, n. d). Even though medical science have nor doubt about the relationships between memory and dreams, it is quiet surprising to know that even people with amnesia problems also have dreams. “Researchers at Harvard Medical School said they were surprised to find that people with amnesia could dream about an event that happened to them even though they had no waking memory of it”(THE LINK BETWEEN MEMORY AND DREAMS, n. d). The above observation is not denying the association of memory and dreams, but it reveals that different types of memories are there in our brain which is processed at different parts of the brain. It is not necessary that an amnesia patient lost the entire faculties of memory and hence he/she can have dreams even under the amnesia disease. It is a fact that we often see unfamiliar incidents in dreams which may not have any relations at all with our past experiences. If dreams are related to memory, then how can we explain such dreams? Christos (2003) has tried to explain such dreams as follows; Memory is stored in the brain in such a way that individual memories overlap each other. The consequences of such storage of memory are that brain generates its own set of memories, so called spurious memories. These spurious memories are considered to be nuisance which may result in dreams of different kinds (Christos, 2003, p.xi). From the above explanation it is clear that our brain is doing certain things which for which we may not have any control or awareness. As the individual memories are stored in an overlapping fashion, it is possible that two memories combined to form a new thing which may appear as a dream which may not have any direct relations with our past experiences. For example, we might have heard the stories of evil spirits during our childhood. Moreover we might have come across with severe natural disasters like earthquake, storm or tsunami. These two information; the story of evil spirit and the natural disaster, may overlap each other in our memory and the combinational effect of these two information might be a totally different one which appear in the form of dreams while sleeping. Dr. Tarnow (2003) has put forward another theory about dreams which challenged many of the findings of Sigmund Freud. According to Dr. Tarnow dreams and long term memory structure are closely related. Dreams are ever present excitational responses to perturbations of perceptions and thought, during waking life as well as sleep, which only become conscious when the executive function of waking life ceases. Memories are stored in the Long Term Memory Structure (LTMS) according to what is already in the LTMS. The new theory is also consistent with recent experimental findings and suggests a partial basis for personality: the selection process of the Storage Transformation (Dr. Tarnow 2003) Dr Tarnow has pointed out that both the experiences, during waking life as well as sleeps, is equally important in the dream formation. He has also argued that memories are stored in the LTMS based on what is already in the LTMS. In other words, repetition of some incidents of similar nature can reinforce the memory consolidation in the LTMS. For example, suppose a person has faced tragic situations more than once. The memories of second and the subsequent tragedies will be quiet easily accepted by the LTMS because of the memories of the first tragedy in the LTMS. In other words, such strengthened memories of similar nature in the LTMS can contribute dreams. Conclusions Sleep, Memory and Dreams are interrelated. Dreams normally occur at the time of sleeping because of the memories stored in the unconscious mind. Fragmented memories and overlapped memories are the major contributors of dreams. Overlapping of memories may result in dreams of unfamiliar nature. Memories are stored at different parts of the brain system and hence it is possible that even a patient with amnesia problem may also have dreams. Dreams can occur while we are in deep sleep or in normal sleep. It is difficult to recall the dreams occurred during deep sleep whereas it is easy to recall dreams occurred during the normal sleep. References 1. Christos, George, 2003, Memory and Dreams, Retrieved on 8 May 2010 from http://books.google.co.in/books?id=KK-bpYuSBgcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Memory+and+dreams&source=bl&ots=SAKLyiuowM&sig=M6Nvz9F1n4DINFjhu3LrzyBCyMQ&hl=en&ei=Tx3mS4ySHI25rAe3gsGHAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false 2. Dr. Tarnow Eugen (2003) How Dreams And Memory May Be Related Retrieved on 8 May 2010 from http://cogprints.org/2068/ 3. Memory in Dreams, (2009), Retrieved on 8 May 2010 from http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/dreams/Dream-Psychology/Memory-In-Dreams.html 4. Payne Jessica D and Nadel Lynn (n. d), Sleep, dreams, and memory consolidation: The role of the stress hormone cortisol, Retrieved on 8 May 2010 from http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/11/6/671.full 5. THE LINK BETWEEN MEMORY AND DREAMS (n. d), Retrieved on 8 May 2010 from http://www.paralumun.com/dreammemory.htm Read More