Dreams and research
1) Hypothetical "dream seeing" machine
During the dream research, we are still using the method, which is called as "Wundt method". There have been planes or maybe even attempts to create some kind of machine, which can model the dreams, that the researchers also can see those things, what people are seeing while they are sleeping.
The idea of that machine would be that the people would show things like photographs of the objects. And the EEG of those people is recorded, while they are looking at some object. Then the EEG of the sleeping person would be compared with the EEG, which is recorded in the tape, while people are looking at the images.
That thing can give the possibility to make the machine, what reads dreams, and that thing would make possible that researchers can observe, what kind of objects people are seeing, while they are sleeping. And the idea was that if a person sees the same thing in nature and while sleeping, the EEG would be identical with the virtual and physic case.
2) Wundt method
The father of modern psychology was Dr. Wilhelm Wundt (1828-1920) (1). That man created an idea that the person sits on a chair and analyzes the feelings and connections with them and things, what happens on the skin or somewhere in the body. Some feelings, what is connected to memories are strong, and when Wundt noticed something happening, like hands were shaken that thing could be generalized to the other people.
One of the parts of science where still is used Wundt method is the research of dreams. Even the best systems cannot tell, what people are seeing while they are seeing dreams. So, in this case, the method, that person sits on the chair and analyzes things, what that person feels and senses is the only thing that would open the world of dreams to the researchers. And in the case of dream research, the trust between the person, who is under the research and the researcher is extremely important.
3) In dream research, trust is the most important thing
So in the next part, I hope that you realize, that I don't fail, and I don't tell things, where I don't have permission. This is one of the most difficult things, that we are facing during the research of dreams. We must have the permission of the interviewed person to make that kind of things and in those cases, the storyteller must not be recognized.
3.1) Case: Escher dream
Have you ever heard a thing, what is called "Escher dream"? In this kind of case, people are seeing a dream about the house, where is a very long stair, and those people are very hurried. They are walking down to the stairs, and there they are meeting people, who they know or in some cases, some people say, that they are talking with people, who they have met somewhere in the future. Sometimes people, who are seeing that dream are telling, that the figures, what are talking to them are telling things, what is happening somewhere in the future.
Those kinds of dreams are connected to the situation, where people are facing very big chances in their life. When those people are stepping in the stairs, they are walking in that house down to stairs, and they can turn back, but something pulls them to the stairs, and when they are coming out from stairs, they are in the familiar place, but the time is night, and the person is alone.
The name of the dream is called "Escher's dream" because there are stairs, which are well-known from the artist Maurits Escher's work. Reality is that we cannot know is that kind of thing true, or have people ever seen those things while sleeping. We don't have an opportunity to see things, what other people are seeing while they are sleeping.
At the beginning of the travel, the main character is going somewhere else, like in parties, but then that person decided to go to the house, where are the chairs. That thing makes this kind of dream interesting, and another interesting detail is that this kind of dream is repeating simultaneously night after night. That thing makes possible that the person remembers that kind of dream.
4) We can always follow the physical reactions of the person while sleeping, but we cannot see, what kind of dreams they are seeing.
These kinds of tales are interesting and they show, how difficult research the dream is. We can follow the EEG of the brain core during the sleep, and we can see what kind of physiologic reaction of the people has, but the thing is that we cannot be sure, what kind of dreams people see, and the problematic thing is that memory is shut down during dreams. So we must just follow the things, that people are telling us.
Of course, if a person is wet of sweat, and turning restless that thing can tell that there is some kind of nightmare going on. But the fact is that nightmares are dreams, what is hiding some kind of deeper experience, and the reason for that is that REM (Rapid Eye Movement) (2)-sleep is on both sides of the most mysterious part of the dream, the deep sleep or "delta sleep". Because the time of the REM-sleep is on both sides of "delta sleep", there is a possibility, that the purpose of REM-sleep is just isolate something, what people are seeing during the deep sleep sequence.
Sometimes is claimed that somebody or something sends us messages by using those dreams as the tool. But why the memory of people is shut down while they are sleeping? If we are researching dreams, we must remember, that everything, that people are telling us depends on the own will of that research object. Those people are telling, what they want about their dreams, and we cannot even say, what they saw or felt during sleep.
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