When the Brain Sleeps: Dreams from a Scientific Perspective

Why do we dream? What do dreams mean? What are they for? For centuries, humanity has unsuccessfully asked these questions, but scientists studying sleep have concluded that the question should be posed differently: what happens in the brain of a... sleeping person? Analyzing numerous ideas and relying on the latest research, the authors of this book propose an innovative model that helps understand the key features of different types of dreams. Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold show where the brain gets images and concepts that shape the plots of our nightly adventures, introduce us to new hypotheses about nightmares, and explain that dreams are rarely the result of repressed desires, and that they visit us not only during the rapid eye movement phase.