Activation-Synthesis+Hypothesis+of+dreaming

Definition:
The hypothesis that dreams are the brain's attempt to make sense of the random firing of brain cells during REM sleep. Gen Psych, CH 4, pp.119


 * __Two other theories/hypothesis of dreaming__ **
 * Evolutionary theory of dreaming **
 * Cognitive theory of dreaming **

__ **‍‍Information** __ This hypothesis suggests that dreams are simply the brain's attempt to make sense of the random firing of brain cells during REM sleep. Just as people try to make sense of input from the environment during their waking hours, they try to find meaning in the conglomeration of sensations and memories that are generated internally by this random firing of brain cells. Hobson(1989) believes that dreams also have psychological significance, because the meaning a person imposes on the random mental activity reflects that person's experiences, remote memories, associations, drives,and fears. --- ‍‍ source: Chapter 4 pages 127-128

**Related Pages:**
evolutionary theory of dreaming, page 127 cognitive theory of dreaming, page 126

Media:
media type="youtube" key="RA1vBYNjBgs?version=3" height="315" width="560"

Analogies:
Computer Program:Sleep Opening Files:Dreams

Mnemonics:
Light Switch Electricity

In the news:

 * The wikipedia article: **

With the advancement of brain imaging technology, the sleep-waking cycle can be studied as never before. The brain can be objectively quantified and identified as being in either one of three states: awake, REM sleep, and NREM sleep due to these advanced methods of measurement. It has been shown that global deactivation of the brain from waking state to NREM sleep occurs, and a subsequent reactivation during REM sleep, to a degree greater than during waking. Consciousness and its substates, primary consciousness and secondary consciousness, play a part in identifying the state of the brain. Primary consciousness is the simple awareness of perception and emotion; that is, the awareness of the world via advanced visual and motor coordination information your brain receives. Secondary consciousness is an advanced state that includes both primary consciousness and abstract analysis, or thinking, and metacognitive components, or the awareness of being aware. Most animals show some stages of primary consciousness, but only humans have been experimentally shown to experience secondary consciousness. The cycle of waking-NREM-REM sleep is essential to mental health of mammals. It has been shown through experimentation that animals subjected to inability to enter REM sleep show an immediate attempt to quickly enter REM stages and long-term effects on motor coordination and habitual motor habits, eventually leading to the death of the animal. It has also been shown that homeothermic animals might require sleep to maintain body weight and temperature.

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 * Articles on the two men who proposed this theory:**

Hobson grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1955 he obtained his A.B. degree from Wesleyan University. Four years later he earned his MD degree at Harvard Medical School in 1959. For the following two years he interned at Bellevue Hospital Center, New York. Then in 1960 he was a resident in Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston for a year. Dr. Hobson then traveled to France where he was a Special Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health for the Department of Physiology at the University of Lyon. Upon returning to the United States, he went back to the Psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston until 1966. He worked in numerous hospitals and research laboratories over the years and is currently the Director of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. Dr. Hobson has received four awards for his work: [|Allan Hobson]
 * Admission to the Boylston Medical Society
 * The Benjamin Rush Gold Medal for Best Scientific Exhibit
 * Honorary member of the American Psychiatric Association since 1978.
 * Recipient of the 1998 Distinguished Scientist Award of the Sleep Research Society

Robert W. McCarley, MD, is Chair and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the VA Boston Healthcare System. He is also Director of the Laboratory of Neuroscience located at the Brockton VA Medical Center and the McLean Hospital. McClarley is a prominent researcher in the field of sleep and dreaming as well as schizophrenia. McCarley graduated from Harvard College in 1959 and Harvard Medical School in 1964. During his residency at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, he studied with J. Allan Hobson. In 1977, Hobson and McCarley developed the activation synthesis theory of dreaming that said that dreams do not have meanings and are the result of the brain attempting to make sense of random neuronal firing in the cortex. McCarley has extensively studied the brainstem mechanisms that controlREM sleep. Additionally, he has studied the build up of adenosine in the basal forebrain following sleep deprivation. In the area of schizophrenia, McCarley has studied brain abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia. McCarley and Martha Shenton published a classic paper in 1992 that described a relationship in a reduction in the volume of the left superior temporal gyrus and thought disorder in patients with schizophrenia. McCarley has been presented with many awards for his research. In 1998, he received William S. Middleton Award which is the highest honor awarded to a VA biomedical research scientist.He has also been presented awards from the Sleep Research Society, American Psychiatric Association, and American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In 2007, McCarley was ranked as the ninth most cited author in the field of schizophrenia research over the past decade. McCarley has publish around 300 research articles and several books and book chapters such as Brain Control of Wakefulness and Sleep [|Robert W. McCarley]