Reading Dreams

Dream recording device 'possible' researcher claims

A US researcher has said he plans to electronically record and interpret dreams.

Writing in the journal Nature, researchers said they have developed a system capable of recording higher-level brain activity.

"We would like to read people's dreams," says the lead scientist Dr Moran Cerf.

The aim is not to interlope, but to extend our understanding of how and why people dream.

For centuries, people have been fascinated by dreams and what they might mean; in ancient Egypt for example, they were thought to be messages from the gods.

More recently, dream analysis has been used by psychologists as a tool to understand the unconscious mind. But the only way to interpret dreams was to ask people about the subject of their dreams after they had woken up.

The eventual aim of Dr Cerf's project is to develop a system that would enable psychologists to corroborate people's recollections of their dream with an electronic visualisation of their brain activity.

"There's no clear answer as to why humans dream," according to Dr Cerf. "And one of the questions we would like to answer is when do we actually create this dream?"

Dr Cerf makes his bold claim based on an initial study that he says suggests that the activity of individual brain cells, or neurons, are associated with specific objects or concepts.

He found, for example, that when a volunteer was thinking of Marilyn Monroe, a particular neuron lit up.

By showing volunteers a series of images, Dr Cerf and his colleagues were able to identify neurons for a wide range of objects and concepts - which they used to build up a database for each patient. These included Bill and Hilary Clinton, the Eiffel Tower and celebrities.

So by observing which brain cell lit up and when, Dr Cerf says he was effectively able to "read the subjects' minds".

Dream catcher

He admits that there is a very long way to go before this simple observation can be translated into a device to record dreams - a "dream catcher". But he thinks it is a possibility - and he said he would like to try.

The next stage is to monitor the brain activity of the volunteers when they are sleeping.

The researchers will only be able to identify images or concepts that correlate with those stored on their database. But this data base could in theory be built up - by for example monitoring neuronal activity while the volunteer is watching a film.

Dr Roderick Oner, a clinical psychologist and dream expert, believes that while this kind of limited visualisation might be of academic interest, it will not really help in the interpretation of dreams or be of use in therapy.

"For that you need the entire complex dream narrative," he said.

Another difficulty with the technique is that to get the kind of resolution needed to monitor individual neurons, subjects had to have electrodes surgically implanted deep inside their brain.

In the Nature study, the researchers obtained their results by studying patients who had electrodes implanted to monitor and treat them for brain seizures.

Translating thoughts

But Dr Cerf believes that sensor technology is developing at such a pace that eventually it might be possible to monitor brain activity in this way without invasive surgery. If this were to happen it would open up a range of possibilities.

"It would be wonderful to read people's minds where they cannot communicate, such as people in comas," said Dr Cerf.

There have been attempts to create machine interfaces before that aim to translate thoughts into instructions to control computers or machines.

But in the main these have tried to tap into areas of the brain involved in controlling movement. Dr Cerf's system monitors higher level areas of the brain and can potentially identify abstract concepts.

"We can sail with our imaginations and think about all the things we could do if we had access to a person's brain and basically visualise their thoughts.

"For example, instead of just having to write an email you could just think it. Or another futuristic application would be to think a flow of information and have it written in front of your eyes."

Professor Colin Blakemore, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, believes that it is quite a jump from the limited results obtained in the study to talking about recording dreams.




Source: You Tube (NickDye) Key Words: Dream abba

I have a dream - ABBA

I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream, a fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

Try to complete the lyrics to another dream-related song - Dream a Little Dream of Me by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

Would you like someone to interpret your dreams?

Comments

Sir Joseph said…
Hi Graham,

I know you like these topics too. The evidence is that there are a lot of posts about science in your blog. Mr Cerf said that he would like to read people´s dreams. This scientific is a gossip. LOL. He said that when a volunteer thinks of Marilyn Monroe, a particular neuron lits up, but I think that, in this case, are a lot of neurons which lip up, in other words, they pile up in his brain. As he said it´s very difficult to know how and why appear the dreams, but the science has done many breakthroughs already.

You can´t imagine what I´m going to tell you, but I have read two months ago that researchers from USA have created a device which taps into surgically to the dreams of a volunteer and when the interface takes place the researchers ask questions to the volunteer about his dream. Not only this, but also they can order that he did the math and he does it. It´s unbelievable.

Finally, I say that the dreams don´t exist because they are unreal but we know that people dream, then I wonder if the dreams to be or not to be.

See you.
Graham said…
Hello JosƩ,

I don't need a fancy gadget to read people's minds - I reckon I am pretty good at it already.

Any science-related post is made with you in mind - unlike you, I'm not a boffin.


Mr Cerf said that he would like to read people´s dreams. This scientist is very nosy. LOL. He said that when a volunteer thinks of Marilyn Monroe, a particular neuron lights up, but I think that, in this case, there are a lot of neurons which light up, in other words, they pile up in his brain. As he said it´s very difficult to know how and why dreams appear, but science has made many breakthroughs already.

You'll never guess what I am about to tell you, but I read two months ago that researchers from the USA have created a device which surgically taps into the dreams of a volunteer and when the interface takes place, the researchers questions the volunteer about his dream. Not only this, but they can also make him do maths and he does it. It´s unbelievable.

Finally, I say that dreams don´t exist because they are unreal but we know that people dream, then I wonder if dreams exist or not.