Perhaps the most curious quality of dreams is that most of us most of the time are not aware that we are dreaming while we are dreaming. The prefrontal cortex lies near the front of the brain and is where the planning of behaviour and self-awareness reside. By dampening activity in this region, a person might not realise that impossible or bizarre events in a dream are unreal. This may also account for distortions in the dreamer's perception of time, the inability to reflect on their plight, and the forgetfulness that often follows waking. Some researchers cite the lack of prefrontal activity as a sign that the function of sleep is restorative.
Sleep gives a rest to the frontal lobes, the most active part of the brain while awake.
Most parapsychologists, however, are not interested in the physiology of dreaming. They focus instead on the content of dreams, which they believe reveals a passage to the paranormal or the supernatural. The prophetic or clairvoyant dream is perhaps the strongest reason for believing that dreaming is a gateway to another world. Some dreams seem uncanny. They seem to foretell events.