I don’t see why I should be the only person in the world to read this.
“They have been talking of dreams on the radio. They reckon the deepest sleep
sort of manures all memories, whereas REM sleep plants and nurtures new
ones. You will recognise the terminology as that of the committed
horticulturalist. They came to these conclusions after using fibre optic
implants in the brains of mice to talk to their tablets or such.”
I’ll forward your responses.
(If you have anything to add – I’m sure he’ll appreciate anything)
So deep sleep which I take to be beyond REM stimulates recall of memories ok but what is a new memory?
That’s what I hope to find out!
Perhaps he means that REM sleep is where the day’s events are curated by the brain, and sorted out into the stuff will remember, and which will be added to the manure bin of a lifetime’s memories, and the stuff that will be discarded and forgotten, burned in the brazier of your brain’s horticulturalist if you will?
By ‘new’, I think they mean new that day, not that REM sleep creates new memories itself.
Sounds reasonable.
I’ve always wondered if sleep is where the brain does the admin. Putting away all those open files and scattered pages of the busy day which you never got round to in the waking hours. Quite why a dream throws up someone you haven’t thought about for decades is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps it’s the file which long ago fell behind the cabinet.
I think it was on today’s Today Prog, today.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36275143
Looks like you inherited your magical use of the language from your old dad
And disposition quite possibly 🙂
Thanks Johnny, fuck off Junes.
Your responses going back to Pater as well HP?
No. And I’m editing them as I see fit to make you appear thick and horrible.
shouldn’t be too hard
My own dad said that dreams were just the brain sorting out all the rubbish of the day and have absolutely no significance. I’m not so sure – dreams can have an undeniable emotional element to them, reflecting some form of anxiety.
There was this bloke called Jung……
Hello there Mr Saucecraft Sr, sir! Any chance you could lend me 20 quid?
I think I can take a wild guess at his response to this one …
My Dad, or as per his proper title “Wisest Bus Driver in The World”, sat the 6 year-old me on on his knee after yet another one of my nightmares (which was probably me being locked again in the outside loo with only spiders and rats and those nasty little creepie-crawlies you found under rocks, shiver, for company)
“Pay no attention to dreams, good or bad; that’s just your wee brain sorting and filing and generally messing about. When you wake up, shake your head and say ‘ just a dream, just a dream'”.
I climbed down and went back upstairs, Dad picked up his paper and lit another cigarette.
… and then you woke up.
After generations of speculation on brain activity/ consciousness/ dream interpretation, a new lease of life has been unleashed by Magnetoencephalography*. Doesn’t mean, of course, that we now “know” everything as the technique hasn’t been around for long but that the possibility of localising, say, anger to a particular part of the typical brain will make the next developments incrementally shorter than ever before. Similarly, REM activity shows up in several brain areas, which still need identifying. Until that day comes, speculation will continue to be the order of the day, including for those chaps your dad was listening to on the radio.
BTW “nurtles” set me off reading his email in a Rambling Sid Rumpo voice. Still giggling. He’ll doubtless enjoy that.
*MEG is a non-invasive technique for investigating human brain activity. It allows the measurement of ongoing brain activity on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis, and it shows where in the brain activity is produced.
Thanks. Forwarded.
Magnetoencephalography
There’s a prog band name right there.
And to think I’ve been dreaming of talks on the radio. Uncertain if your dad featured, but, if you can name the requisite late night cheese dish, I will look out for him tonight.
Dear HP’s Dad, is that why I wake up with a hard on? (Waits for firs Roland Orzabal Reference)
No. That’s the autonomic nervous system’s solution to a full bladder in a young(ish) male. Otherwise, you’d wet yourself.
I wonder if they fed the mice on Jarlsberg, with the result that their little rodent dreams were in Technicolor, Sensurround, Triple Dolby-C, seven channel Smellovision with Rumbletech. Every time their little tummies digested a hole in the cheese, they plummeted into a deeper sleep, smiling little white pink-toed smiles, before ascending into sweaty prey-species panic REM sleep once again as the waxy stuff gave their gastric juices a run for its money. This is, however, pure speculation, and is therefore scientifically dubious.
This is as much help as anything. Forwarded.
“Sweaty prey-species panic” – banked.
I fairly frequently have out of body experiences/lucid astral dream states where my consciousness is entirely awake and sense functioning separate from my physical self. The seers and yogis were right.
See tag for this post.
Ditto. If you ever make it on to the astral planes, let me know. We’ll hook up and I’ll show you around, dude. My pleasure.
No offence, Rob, but if you’re out there, floating around astrally, I’m just as happy down here thanks. But do send a postcard!
None taken. Will do. I’ll even enclose a groovy ectoroid of me in my funky axis bold as love themed underswimmingcrackers on some suitably exotic sandy Sephiroth. Huzzah baby ! x