Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

148 Chapter 
5 
States of Consciousness
they believe that the direct, overt action of a dream is the focal point of its meaning. 
For example, a dream in which we are walking down a long hallway to take an exam 
for which we haven’t studied does not relate to unconscious, unacceptable wishes. 
Instead, it simply may mean that we are concerned about an impending test. Even 
more complex dreams can often be interpreted in terms of everyday concerns and 
stress (Picchioni et al., 2002; Cartwright, Agargum, & Kirkby, 2006). 
Moreover, some dreams refl ect events occurring in the dreamer’s environment 
as he or she is sleeping. For example, sleeping participants in one experiment were 
sprayed with water while they were dreaming. Those unlucky volunteers reported 
more dreams involving water than did a comparison group of participants who were 
left to sleep undisturbed (Dement & Wolpert, 1958). Similarly, it is not unusual to 
wake up to fi nd that the doorbell that was heard ringing in a dream is actually an 
alarm clock telling us it is time to get up. 
However, PET brain scan research does lend a degree of support for the wish 
fulfi llment view. For instance, the limbic and paralimbic regions of the brain, which 
are associated with emotion and motivation, are particularly active during REM 
sleep. At the same time, the association areas of the prefrontal cortex, which control 
logical analysis and attention, are inactive during REM sleep. The high activation of 
emotional and motivational centers of the brain during dreaming makes it more 
plausible that dreams may refl ect unconscious wishes and instinctual needs, as Freud 
suggested (Braun et al., 1998; Occhionero, 2004; Wehrle et al., 2007).

EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS OF DREAMS: 
DREAMS-FOR-SURVIVAL THEORY

According to the  dreams-for-survival theory  , which is based in the evolutionary 

perspective, dreams permit us to reconsider and reprocess during sleep information 
that is critical for our daily survival. Dreaming is considered an inheritance from our 
animal ancestors, whose small brains were unable to sift suffi cient information dur-
ing waking hours. Consequently, dreaming provided a mechanism that permitted 
the processing of information 24 hours a day.
According to this theory, dreams represent concerns about our daily lives, illus-
trating our uncertainties, indecisions, ideas, and desires. Dreams are seen, then, as 
consistent with everyday living. Rather than being disguised wishes, as Freud sug-
gested, they represent key concerns growing out of our daily experiences (Ross, 2006; 
Winson, 1990). 
Research supports the dreams-for-survival theory, suggesting that certain dreams 
permit people to focus on and to consolidate memories, particularly dreams that per-
tain to “how-to-do-it” memories related to motor skills. For example, rats seem to 
dream about mazes that they learned to run through during the day, at least accord-
ing to the patterns of brain activity that appear while they are sleeping (Kenway & 
Wilson, 2001; Kuriyama, Stickgold, & Walker, 2004; Smith, 2006; Stickgold et al., 2001). 
A similar phenomenon appears to work in humans. For instance, in one experi-
ment, participants learned a visual memory task late in the day. They were then sent