Mind, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 18, 2006

Animals Dream in Pictures, Too

When rats snuggle up for a nap, they replay movies of their daily activities in what scientists suggest is the animal equivalent of dreaming, a new study suggests. The research supports the idea that memories are cemented into the brain during sleep. This work brings us closer to an understanding...

Jan 18, 2007

Daydreamers: Scientists Find Our Bored Baseline

Bored out of your skull is a reality. A new study of mind wandering shows that the mundane moments of life allow brains to shift into a default resting state that invites daydreaming. Some psychologists had suggested that mind wandering could be the brain's baseline, a place of flitting thoughts...

Feb 21, 2008

New Machine Interprets Dreams

Sleep Waking is an unusual art work that combines recorded brainwave activity and REM sleep with robot behaviors. The Sleep Waking robot plays back your dreams, or, if you will, presents an interpretive dance of your dreams. The Sleep Waking robot is the result of a collaboration between Fernando Orellana...

Dec 11, 2008

Dreams Imaged, Scientists Claim

Japanese researchers say they've imaged thoughts and dreams and displayed them on a computer screen. At the web site of the journal Neuron, where the findings are to be published, the researchers summarize their work: The results suggest that our approach provides an effective means to read out complex perceptual...

Jan 29, 2009

Women Have Nightmares, Men Dream of Sex

Women have more nightmares than men, a British researcher says, but men are more likely to dream about sex. Psychologist Jennie Parker of the University of the West of England asked 100 women and 93 men between the ages of 18 and 25 to fill out dream diaries, priming participants...

Feb 17, 2009

Most People Believe Dreams Are Meaningful

Dreams might mean nothing, but many people take them seriously nonetheless, as Sigmund Freud did, new research finds. People in at least three countries, including the United States, believe dreams contain important hidden truths, said researcher Carey Morewedge, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In six different...

May 13, 2009

Surprise! Daydreaming Really Works the Brain

Got a tough problem to solve? Try daydreaming. Contrary to the notion that daydreaming is a sign of laziness, letting the mind wander can actually let the parts of the brain associated with problem-solving become active, a new study finds. Kalina Christoff of the University of British Columbia in Canada...

Mar 12, 2010

Can I Control My Dreams?

Lucid dreaming — that is, being aware of and able to control your dreaming state — may sound like a typical nocturnal experience to some, and just a pipe dream to others. Whatever your opinion, the phenomenon of lucid dreaming has been observed in the laboratory. Subjects have been able...

Apr 22, 2010

Naps and Dreams Boost Learning, Study Finds

Scientists have long wondered why we sleep and why we dream. A new study provides evidence for some long-held notions that sleep and dreams boost learning and help us to make sense of the real world. Even naps can help, the researchers found. Test subjects who dreamt about a challenging...

May 25, 2010

Video Gamers Can Control Dreams, Study Suggests

Playing video games before bedtime may give people an unusual level of awareness and control in their dreams, LiveScience has learned. That ability to shape the alternate reality of dream worlds might not match mind-bending Hollywood films such as The Matrix, but it could provide an edge when fighting nightmares...

Jun 27, 2010

Why We Dream: Real Reasons Revealed

BOSTON – The slumbering mind might not seem like an apt tool for any critical thinking, but humans can actually solve problems while asleep, researchers say. Not only that, but one purpose for dreaming itself may be to help us find solutions to puzzles that plague us during waking hours....

Jul 16, 2010

Like 'Inception,' Scientists See Inside Dreamers' Minds

In the movie Inception, the characters enter and manipulate other people's dreams. Today's real scientists can't do that, but by using brain imaging technology, they are getting closer to being able to tell whether a person is doing math calculations, talking, reading, or is frightened in their dreams. This imaging...

Jul 28, 2010

Do Colorblind People Dream In Color?

Although researchers previously believed that dreams were only black and white, they now know that most dreams are colorful. But how do the dreams of colorblind people look? That depends on when they became colorblind. Because humans dream about what they know, people who become colorblind after birth can see...

Jul 29, 2010

Daydream Distractions Depend on How Far Mind Wanders

Just how distracting daydreams can be depends on where exactly your wandering mind takes you, a new study suggests. The farther away your mind drifts — in time and space — the harder it is to remember what you just did. For instance, daydreams of your childhood home or a...

Aug 4, 2010

Violent Dreams May Presage Brain Disorders Decades Later

A rare sleep disorder in which people act out their dreams, sometimes with violent thrashes, kicks and screams, may be an early sign of brain disorders down the line, including Parkinson's disease and dementia, a new study suggests. The results suggest the incipient stages of these neurodegenerative disorders might begin...