Today I finished watching the PBS documentary on "What are dreams?". A lot of useful information.
Couple that I found particularly interesting were -
1. about the distinction between REM and non-REM sleep and dreams
2. about Dr. Antti Revansuo's research on inheriting dreams
3. about people who don't dream
1. Distinction between REM and non-REM -
I was reading through the wiki on reverse learning and my own blog post and I realize now, that reverse learning is actually a valid theory. It's just that Crick and Mitchison got it wrong that it happens during REM sleep. Since non-REM sleep is the one that focuses on past events, the clean-up and unlearning must happen during non-REM, leaving REM to plan the next Chess move based on how the board is laid out so far.
2. Dr. Antti Revansuo's research on inheriting dreams -
This makes sense. My sisters have had recurring dreams in which both dream of the exact same thing. They don't dream of it at the same time, and they are not twins. But they do have the same dream. Since neither told the other about it, it makes sense that it was passed down to them from our ancestors. Even from evolution perspective, it makes sense, per his theory, that, as we grow up we have dreams/ nightmares about modern problems.
3. People who don't dream -
The documentary informed me about the parietal lobe's (the part of the brain that combines all the senses) association with dreams by Dr. Mark Solms. This helps me find out that there really are people that cannot dream - for which my blog says they would go insane. In one sense, the patient does complain about not having quality sleep - since they keep waking up. The question is if this can cause insanity due to no clean-up/ reverse learning happening during this time. The other question is - are people who don't dream able to learn new things just as easily? Are they more forgetful? I would think so, since there is only limited cache capacity in the brain. So, if a new skill is learnt, something else would be forgotten. This might also explain why people who don't get any sleep for a night, don't make sense the morning after. Now that I think of it, this might also be a cause for Alzheimer's disease, or a symptom!
There were also other theories I want to explore - like Dr. Antonio Zadra's "prediction of human nature based on their dreams". It would be great to have a comparison between the north Canadian elders' interpretation of dreams as prediction of the future and Dr. Zadra's interpretation. Irrespective of whether their results match or not, the comparisons would be fascinating from a learning perspective for both.
- Sonia
Couple that I found particularly interesting were -
1. about the distinction between REM and non-REM sleep and dreams
2. about Dr. Antti Revansuo's research on inheriting dreams
3. about people who don't dream
1. Distinction between REM and non-REM -
I was reading through the wiki on reverse learning and my own blog post and I realize now, that reverse learning is actually a valid theory. It's just that Crick and Mitchison got it wrong that it happens during REM sleep. Since non-REM sleep is the one that focuses on past events, the clean-up and unlearning must happen during non-REM, leaving REM to plan the next Chess move based on how the board is laid out so far.
2. Dr. Antti Revansuo's research on inheriting dreams -
This makes sense. My sisters have had recurring dreams in which both dream of the exact same thing. They don't dream of it at the same time, and they are not twins. But they do have the same dream. Since neither told the other about it, it makes sense that it was passed down to them from our ancestors. Even from evolution perspective, it makes sense, per his theory, that, as we grow up we have dreams/ nightmares about modern problems.
3. People who don't dream -
The documentary informed me about the parietal lobe's (the part of the brain that combines all the senses) association with dreams by Dr. Mark Solms. This helps me find out that there really are people that cannot dream - for which my blog says they would go insane. In one sense, the patient does complain about not having quality sleep - since they keep waking up. The question is if this can cause insanity due to no clean-up/ reverse learning happening during this time. The other question is - are people who don't dream able to learn new things just as easily? Are they more forgetful? I would think so, since there is only limited cache capacity in the brain. So, if a new skill is learnt, something else would be forgotten. This might also explain why people who don't get any sleep for a night, don't make sense the morning after. Now that I think of it, this might also be a cause for Alzheimer's disease, or a symptom!
There were also other theories I want to explore - like Dr. Antonio Zadra's "prediction of human nature based on their dreams". It would be great to have a comparison between the north Canadian elders' interpretation of dreams as prediction of the future and Dr. Zadra's interpretation. Irrespective of whether their results match or not, the comparisons would be fascinating from a learning perspective for both.
- Sonia
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