NEUR 2200 Study Guide - Morphine, Hypnotic, Sensory Deprivation
Document Summary
What we dream about: allan hobson: activation-synthesis theory. The cortex is bombarded with signals from the brainstem, producing the pattern of waking eeg. In response, the cortex generates images, actions and emotions from personal memory stores: dreams are personal, but they have no meaning. Dreams as meaningless brain activity (activation-synthesis theory) p. 463. The theory suggests that, during a dream: the cortex is bombarded by signals from the brain stem these signals produce the pattern of waking (or activated) eep. In response to the excitation the cortex generates images, actions and emotions from personal memory stores. In absence of external verification: these dream vents are fragmented and bizarre, and reveal nothing more than that the cortex has been activated. The frontal cortex controls: working memory, memory for events that have just happened, and attention. Dreams are highly organized and biased toward threatening images. Dreams are biologically important because they lead to enhanced performance in dealing with threatening life events (adaptive function)
