Sleep and dreams

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Sample objectives

What this unit covers

• Biological rhythms, natural cycles of bodily processes regulated by a person’s internal ‘clock’,: Biological rhythms are natural cycles of bodily functions governed by an internal clock, specifically including: • circadian rhythms, which are the sleep-wake cycle repeating every 24 hours • ultradian rhythms, which are cycles occurring multiple times within a 24-hour period.
• Biological rhythms, natural cycles of bodily processes regulated by a person’s internal ‘clock’,: Different types of sleep within the sleep cycle, focusing on their duration and features such as brain activity, muscle tension, eye movements, and dreams, including: • rapid eye movement (REM) sleep • non-rapid eye movement (nREM) sleep. Knowledge of specific stages of sleep is not required.
• The restoration theory of sleep:: Understand the functions of non-rapid eye movement (nREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, noting that nREM sleep aids in restoring physical functions while REM sleep is crucial for psychological and brain function recovery. Additionally, recognize how sleep influences the amygdala's role in emotional processing.
• The restoration theory of sleep:: Examine how sleep patterns evolve throughout a person's life, particularly focusing on the differences in the ratio of nREM to REM sleep between infants and adults.
• Brain regions involved in dreaming:: The thalamus is a brain region that relays sensory and motor signals to the cerebral cortex and is active in creating images and information during REM sleep. The amygdala, part of the limbic system, plays a role in memory and emotional learning, and is involved in processing emotions in dreams during REM sleep.
• Brain regions involved in dreaming:: Hobson and McCarley's activation-synthesis theory of dreaming includes concepts such as the blockade of sensory input, blockade of motor output, random activation of neural circuits, and the synthesis of this activity in the cerebral cortex.
• The role of parts of the mind:: Identify the different parts of the mind, including the conscious, pre-conscious, and unconscious.
• The role of parts of the mind:: Distinguish between types of dream content: manifest content, which is the actual events of dreams that can be remembered, and latent content, which refers to the hidden symbolic meanings of dreams.