Science Of Dreams Essays - Dream, Neurophysiology, Sleep

Science Of Dreams The Science of Dreams A dream is a display, usually visual, that occurs during the night while we sleep in order to deal with and asses the things that we have dealt with during the day. A dream is a remembered residue in the form of creatively assembled visual metaphors(Guiley). In 1900 Sigmund Freud wrote in the The Interpretation of Dreams that dreams are disguised wishes arising from ones unconscious mind. Having been suppressed by the conscious mind, the wishes sneak into the sleeping brain in the form of dreams. Due to electoencephalograph machine that recorded the rapid eye movement during sleep and research into the physical nature of dreaming, Freud's theory has been for the most part proven wrong. There is no definitive answer as to what a dream is. There is a raging debate over the neuroscientific point of view and the psychoanalytical point of view about what it is that actually causes dreams. In the next few paragraphs I will look at the proposed answers from both the neuroscientific and psychoanalytical The process of dreaming starts in the brain stem and is controlled by two neurotransmitters that in affect turn the dreams on and of. The one that turns the dreams on uses acetylcholine to begin the dream, and the part that turns the dream off uses norepinephrine and serotonin to end the dream sequence.When the norepinephrine and serotonin are suppressed, the other chemical, acetylcholine allows electrical signals to the cortex. Norepinephrine and serotonin are necessary to imprint the dreams into your long term memory. This may explain why we forget the majority of our dreams. Since the two chemicals are suppressed during the dreaming process, most dreams are not stored in the long term memory of our minds. The brain stem neurons also start a sinusoidal wave known as theta rhythm the hippocampus, a brain structure that looks like a sea horse which is believed to be responsible for the storage of memory. While this happens, the nerves that usually carry information from the world around us shut down(Guiley). If the dream happens during the REM phase of sleep, the person sleeping will experience an increased heart rate and a temporary paralysis. To prevent the sleeper from acting out the dream, the brain freezes the muscular activity. Experiments have been done on cats where the nueral fibers that freeze the movement during REM sleep were removed. This resulted in the cats walking around and acting out there dreams. Some people do act out there dreams. This disorder can be treated by a drug called Clonazepam which is also used to treat epilepsy. Dreams are different according to when the dream occurs in relation to the period of sleep. During the REM stage of sleep and at other times or non-REM sleep. There are four stages of sleep. As the sleeper goes through the stages of sleep the brain waves decrease in frequency. After the sleeper goes through the four stages of sleep, the sleeper goes back through the stages until they are back in stage one. This stage bone is called the Emergent Stage One. This is the time in which most of the REM dreaming occurs. In early 1953 is when the physical science of dreams really began when researchers at the University of Chicago discovered physical signals like rapid eye movement and brain wave patterns that signaled that dreams were in progress. Most all of the research since then has focused on the REM stage of sleep. All mammals, and even a few birds and reptiles go through the REM stage of sleep. In humans as we get older less time is spent in the REM stage of sleep. Fetuses spend most all of their time in the REM stage and new borns spend an average of eight hours a day in REM sleep. Fifty percent of sleep of infants and small children is spent in REM sleep. Adults sleep is usually about twenty percent REM sleep, and for older people only fifteen percent of sleep is spent in the REM stage of sleep. Many scientist believe that this is because that REM sleep plays a part in the learning process and is more important for the younger sleepers(Ackroyd). Eventhough REM sleep has gotten all of the attention when it comes to research, it must be remebered that we do not just dream in the REM stage. NREM are the dreams that are usually more logical and are more likely to

Zimmermann Telegram

Zimmermann Telegram The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded message sent from Germany to Mexico in January 1917. Once the Zimmermann Telegram was intercepted and decoded by the British, the contents were leaked to the U.S. and helped change the tide of American public opinion and brought the U.S. into World War I. The Story of the Zimmermann Telegram The Zimmermann Telegram was secretly sent from German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann to Germanys ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhardt. The British managed to intercept this coded message and their cryptologists were able to decipher it. Within this secret message, Zimmermann revealed Germanys plan to restart unrestricted submarine warfare as well as offered Mexico territory from the United States if Mexico were to declare war on the United States. On February 24, 1917, the British shared the contents of the Zimmermann Telegram with U.S President Woodrow Wilson, who had been elected to a second term on the slogan He kept us out of the war. The contents of the Zimmermann Telegram then appeared in newspapers five days later, on March 1. Upon reading the news, the American public was outraged. For three years, Americans had prided themselves on safely keeping out of World War I, a war they believed to be contained to Europe, which seemed far away. The American public now felt the war was being brought to their own land. The Zimmermann Telegram helped change public opinion in the United States away from isolationism and toward joining World War I with the Allies. Just a month after the contents of the Zimmermann Telegram were published in U.S. papers, the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. The Full Text of the Zimmermann Telegram (Since the coded Zimmermann Telegram was originally written in German, the text below is a translation of the German message.) We intend to begin on the first of February unrestricted submarine warfare. We shall endeavor in spite of this to keep the United States of America neutral. In the event of this not succeeding, we make Mexico a proposal of alliance on the following basis: make war together, make peace together, generous financial support and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The settlement in detail is left to you. You will inform the President of the above most secretly as soon as the outbreak of war with the United States of America is certain and add the suggestion that he should, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence and at the same time mediate between Japan and ourselves. Please call the Presidents attention to the fact that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England in a few months to make peace.