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This article comes from the official account of Wechat: SF Chinese (ID:kexuejiaodian), author: SF

People are keen on dreams, usually because they are full of fantasy and fantasy. Dreams can happen things that are completely impossible in real life, and you will switch scenes illogically. Scenes, behaviors, and characters change randomly in dreams, regardless of plot coherence and the laws of physics. Everything in the dream is very weird.

/ tr. by Dean Burnett (Dean Burnett)

Editor | Liu Jiayu

Visual Design | Xia Meng

Dreams are weird. But in dreams, we are not surprised. We may dream of standing upside down in a cave dripping with milk and that our colleague is our own mother. However, in our dreams, we think everything is very reasonable.

Why does the brain believe these distorted dreams in a deep sleep? In fact, it largely depends on the reason for dreaming. More and more studies have shown that dreaming can consolidate memory. The brain does not simply create memories when they are awake and then store them as if they were photo files on a mobile phone.

In fact, newly acquired memories need to be effectively integrated into the brain's storage areas and memory networks. These memories are the basis of our ability to recognize, self-awareness, thought, and so on. The process of integration is memory consolidation, and most of it is carried out in dreams.

This is because, when we sleep, we do not create new memories, and there is no continuous stream of memories to be consolidated. Just like road builders need to make sure that the road is closed and there is no traffic in order to build the road better.

In addition, biological memory is not an independent, classified file containing complex information, it is not a photo in a mobile phone. Memory is made up of memory fragments, which are connected in unique and complex ways.

For example, if you are in a long-term relationship, your partner will be one of the most familiar things in life. But if your brain creates a new memory every time you see your partner, you will soon have tens of thousands of memories, and all of them are exactly the same. It's very inefficient for an organ like the brain that has a lot of work.

In fact, the brain has an established memory of your partner, and when a new memory involving that memory is formed, the new memory connects with the old memory.

Memory fragments contain everything we've been through. Including pictures, sounds, emotions, colors, characters and so on. Combining and connecting these fragments in an effective way is the purpose of memory consolidation or dreaming.

When we deal with these memory fragments in a deep sleep, they are also "activated", just as you need to power up the circuit to make the circuit work. When the memory is activated, we will relive it.

Why are dreams so weird but familiar? However, although the real experience is in accordance with the laws of nature, the experience in the dream is not affected by any law. For example, if you are nervous about the upcoming meeting, there will be a large number of new memory fragments containing nervousness. In order to consolidate a new memory, the brain associates it with other fragments of memory that contain tension during a dream.

For example, if you remember the nervousness before singing in public for the first time or scuba diving for the first time, the brain will associate the new tension with the old memories when you dream. Then you may dream of singing underwater. This is impossible behavior, but the dreaming brain doesn't care at all.

In the final analysis, everything that happens in dreams comes from memory fragments, which are temporarily combined in complex ways, and the brain imposes "self-awareness" on it in order to work more efficiently.

This means that no matter what happens in our dreams, it is made up of things that our brains are already familiar with. These familiar things are memories.

It's as if you come home one day and find that the furniture has all changed places. You may be surprised at the new layout of the room, but you will not fail to recognize the furniture.

The same is true of the way the brain processes memories when dreaming. They may be presented in grotesque and incredible ways, but the feeling of "it's all familiar" still exists. Because, to your brain, everything is familiar.

References:

Https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/strange-dreams-neuroscientist-explains/

Source of picture:

Https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/strange-dreams-neuroscientist-explains/

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