Sweet Dreams are Made of this

a sequence of images, emotions, and thoughts passing through a sleeping person's mind

According to Freud, the remembered storyline of a dream

According to Freud, the underlying meaning of a dream

• To satisfy our own wishes
• To file away memories
• To develop and preserve neural pathways
• To make sense of neural static
• To reflect cognitive development

• dreams provide a way to express otherwise unacceptable feelings
• contain manifest (remembered) content and a deeper layer of latent content--a hidden meaning

Dreams help us sort out the day's events and consolidate our memories

Regular Brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways

REM sleep triggers neural activity that evokes random visual memories, which our sleeping brain weaves into stories

Dream content reflects dreamers' cognitive development--their knowledge and understanding

the tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation (created by repeated awakenings during REM sleep)