Re: Some brain questions i need help with

From: Lester Zick (lesterDELzick_at_worldnet.att.net)
Date: 09/25/04 

Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 00:23:59 GMT

On 23 Sep 2004 14:09:07 -0700, feedbackdroids@yahoo.com (dan michaels)
in comp.ai.philosophy wrote:

>lesterDELzick@worldnet.att.net (Lester Zick) wrote in message news:<4152d9db.38059444@netnews.att.net>...
>
>>
>> You're just sleeping very shallowly. I did something similar with a
>> diet caffeinated soft drink in the evening a week or so ago. The
>> interesting thing is I felt certain that vivid dreams would result
>> because something similar had happened several years ago from coffee
>> in the evening.
>>
>
>Most people dream 4-5 times per night, but don't realize it, because
>the dream content doesn't get transferred over into LTM, the same way
>waking experiences do. However, if you awake from a dream and
>immediately try to replay it in your mind, then you can later recall
>those parts of it which you were able to replay. IE, simply reviewing
>them before they fade will help get parts of the dream experiences
>stored where they can be later recalled. Sometimes you will only be
>able to replay tiny bits, but other times you wil be able to replay
>entire sequences. And the great thing is, it's all done internally.
>==============
>
>> >What is going through the "I" inside the dream is not remarkable, simply a
>> >reflection of my current personal situation. I am usually on the move,
>> >trying to get somewhere but being presented with various barriers. This
>> >relates to my current personal situation which in flux and the need for me
>> >to address a number of longstanding health problems that are making study
>> >and work very difficult. The digging up of all those people may relate to
>> >the fact that I am very much tucked away and staying away from the world,
>> >not keeping up with friends and the like. Must be time to get out and about
>> >again.
>>
>> My personal opinion is that the subject of dreams is only topically
>> reflective but the juxtaposition of subjects can be significant.
>>
>> Regards - Lester
>
>
>The subject of dreams is for psychologists to worry about, and their
>meaning may be indecipherable. OTOH, the mechanism of dreaming is for
>neuroscience to decipher. And much more interesting too, I think.

I'm inclined to agree with you here, Dan, in broad, general terms. But
I would like to add a few considerations that may run counter to what
you say in a collateral reply to John H.

Nightmares are easier to analyze mechanically because they originate
in some discomfort experienced during sleep and dreaming. The source
of the problem is not clear, but the fact of discomfort is manifest
and causes the sleeper to try to discover it through a kind of self
prompting.

Let's say one experiences some discomfort during sleep. The subject
then tries to explain the source of discomfort through leading
suppositions, the kind of things which might cause one discomfort, to
discover whether that is the source.

I've actually experienced the verbal cueing involved in my own dreams
during periods of very shallow sleep. I was bascially just talking my
way through the process of discovery looking for the discomfort.

You comment in the collateral reply that this presumably entails
observation of oneself, and this you consider impossible or not an
accurate reflection of what's going on. However, I see no reason one
should not observe oneself introspectively during the dream process,
just as one does during ordinary thinking processes. And contrary to
what you suggest, the person dreaming plays a non passive active role
in the process, at least in bad dreams.

Regards - Lester

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