The reader is also given an update on how the mind and body operate while sleeping. Godwin continues presenting several theories on why we dream. Some researchers feel dreaming is purely physiological. Our dreams are meaningless debris and serve as some sort of biological upkeep of our brain s neural pathways. Other researchers, including Sigmund Freud, believe dreams serve a psychological purpose.
Dreams supposedly are meaningful images of our inner health and well being.
Godwin proposes that dreams fall somewhere between physiological and psychological and presents several new theories on how the brain operates. Out of these new theories we learn that dreams process memory, updating strategies of behavior necessary for survival. In addition, aminergic neurons, used for tasks involving critical attention and learning, are conserved during sleep. This explains why our dreams appear bizarre and lack any type of critical consciousness. Lucid dreaming occurs when the aminergic neurons somehow get switched on while asleep.