Have you ever had a dream that was incredibly detailed and recurrent? I've had one off and on for some time... it comes when I least expect it, leaves me incredibly confused as to the details and logic thereof, and every time I have the strongest feeling of deja vu.
What bothers me, though, is that I haven't a clue about whether this dream actually is one that repeats itself, or whether I just think so. The details of the dream fade with wakefulness, and leave me wondering if I just imagined everything.
Well, that, and that I spend the entire dream trying to save the world from some horrible but unspecified calamity. That's pretty weird for someone who spends his life as a student researcher, not an action hero.
*scratches head* Makes you wonder about memory and perception. If I think something has happened before, does that mean that I'm remembering it, or my brain is just playing tricks on me? Confusing. So, a challenge: has anyone run across any credible research (anything from cognitive science to neurology to engineering) that can actually prove whether we are remembering things or just thinking we're remembering them? I imagine it's possible, at least with some sort of fMRI... but I don't know. I recall that deja vu has been attributed to one part of the brain, but is this also tied into recall?
Hmm. Things like this make me curious.
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3 comments:
I've had several "epic" dreams recently, that when, I woke up, I felt should definitely be made into movies. Unfortunately, I can't think of any of them right now.
Last night, though, I had a rather mundane dream about finding a mineral deposit of Calcium ferrite, which is apparently what I subconsciously think rubies are made of. I carted off a massive ruby before my father noticed.
ROFL! I love the utter illogicality of dreams... they make no sense, yet seem so obvious at the time.
I always wanted to date Jack Bauer!
I'm not sure that research exists.
It is my understanding that people think that when one "remembers" something it is essentially the brain going through that experience again- the same parts of the brain are activated as when it originally happens, ie you remember a smell and even though you arent smelling that part of your brain is activated. Therefore, since your brain is going through the same experiences, it seems as though it would be difficult to tell whether one thing happened, and whether it was happening/being experienced for the first time.
It may be possible to tell the differences between memory and experience, however, because when you remember things you add perspective, emotions, etc. that weren't there initially, but deja vu, that is something entirely different. An fMRI may be able to tell you that you remember an experience already happened, but you know that by experiencing deja vu your self. I don't think an fMRI will be able to tell you whether it actually already happened. But maybe your brain does act differently when ure feeling deja vu then other memories...good question
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