Kyle Colucci

Marci Campbell
Psych 1010
February 14, 2015
Dreams: Just Leftover Information?
Introduction
Dreams are one of the most bizarre and interesting things that our brains create while we
are asleep. While we may think our brains shut down for the night when we sleep, the truth is
that our brains are actually active all night long. What is our brain doing awake all night long we
may ask, it is still preforming the job it has when we are awake. This is processing and storing
information for future use, as well as accessing memories that could be used to help process the
new information coming in. While all this processing is going on, our mind uses our imagination
to create an almost tangible world that can convince us it is real. I would like to explore the
reasons for this worlds existence.
Literature Review
When it comes to dreams I follow the activation-synthesis model that dreams are
produced when the brain attempts to make sense of random neural activity that occurs during
sleep. My thoughts are that our mind takes information that it didnt get the chance to process
while we are awake and tries to do it while we sleep. The information that is leftover is then used
to create the world that the dream takes place in. According to the activation-synthesis model the
dreams that take place can switch the location and people at random without any rhyme or

reason. The most interesting part of all of this is that while we are dreaming it isnt unusual for
such things to happen (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014).
While I may agree more with the activation-synthesis method, Frued did have some
interesting ideas about dreams. His thoughts on dreams focused on the fact that everything that
had meaning in a dream was actually dressed up to look similar but not quite what you were
looking for (Fosshage, 2007). There is also a sort of middle ground when it comes to these two
theories. The idea that our subconscious which is the primary controller of dreams creates
another version of us that it uses to convey different messages. These messages come from left
over information that hasnt been processed yet (Modell, 2011).
Application
In my life I have had dreams where I go through the events of that day, but with certain
changes that dont make sense unless youre asleep. I have had many of those dreams in my life
but the dreams I remember the most are the ones that are focused on a video game I really
enjoyed and just couldnt get off my mind. One example of this was when I was about 13 I got a
computer game called StarCraft. This is a game I really wanted and enjoyed playing with my
friends that owned it as well. I enjoyed this game so much that I would imagine myself in the
world of the game. One night after playing the game I had a dream that I was sucked into the
world of StarCraft.
The dream started out with me in front of computer just starting a game when I was
sucked into the computer. I was viewing the same image that was on the computer screen at first
when suddenly I was looking out the window of a Battlecruiser into space. I knew we were on
our way to a planet to battle so I continued to enjoy the view. As I was looking there was group

of Wraiths that flew by, and I noticed that there was a skeleton on one the ships that resembled
one of the Alien races we were going to fight. I thought that it was interesting that the skeleton
was still there.
After the Wraiths flew by, I suddenly found myself down the planet. I was in a suit of
armor and I was following one of the main characters from the story mode of the game. She was
leading the way through the sewers as we were running from enemy because they had overrun
our position. I could hear them behind us getting closer as we continued to run. We talked for a
second about what we would do if they caught up after which we turned the corner and then I
woke up. To this day it is only dream that I still remember so vividly. I know that this experience
of mine is a personal example of how the brain accesses our thoughts and memories of the day
that we just experienced.
Conclusion
When it comes to dreams I always thought that they were just affected by the thoughts
that you had right before you fell asleep. I have learned that this is only true sometimes, while
other times your dreams could be about something from the previous day or even week. The
thing that surprised me the most is that people will dream of terrible things they want to happen
to someone but that person is replaced by an object (Schacter, et al., 2014) I would like to spend
more time on learning about how peoples dreams can sometimes convey their true feelings or
intentions. I think that even though some peoples dreams could be dark there are going to be
those that try to hide the fact that they are actually very kind. Learning about people from their
dreams would be quite the experience.

Learning more about others from their dreams would also allow you to help those that are
having a hard time expressing their true feelings. This would be similar to a form of therapy, but
with just your dreams being the material that starts conversations. This would allow you to start
somewhere more abstract and unreal and work your way into reality. I feel that there is a lot
more we can learn from whether it is that we study for exams in our sleep or learning about
someones deepest desires that shows itself in their dreams.

References
Fosshage, J. L. (2007). The organizing functions of dreaming: Pivotal issues in understanding
and working with dreams. International Forum Of Psychoanalysis, 16(4), 213-221,
DOI:10.1080/08037060701442166
Modell, A. H. (2011). The Unconsciously Constructed Virtual Other. Psychoanalytic Dialogues,
21(3), 292-302, DOI:10.1080/10481885.2011.581113
Schacter, Daniel L., Gilbert, Daniel T., Wegner, Daniel M., Nock, Matthew K. (2014).
Psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers