We know now, based on almost twenty years of research, that while we sleep, the brain is constantly working, processing our memories from the day just past. For every two hours we spend awake, taking in new information, it appears that the brain needs to shut down all external inputs for an hour to make time to figure out what it all means. Bob’s

sleep’s role in memory processing, nor about the role that REM and non-REM dreaming might play in these processes. We saw in Chapter 5 that both REM and non-REM sleep contribute to memory evolution. Sleep enhances some memories while allowing others to be forgotten. It processes both emotional and unemotional memories. It enhances some memories in

In a very real sense, our consciousness during dreams enfolds the virtual world that surrounds us; the world becomes a part of our consciousness.

Jung also believed that dreams could have an anticipatory or “prospective” function. By tracking the dreamer’s past, the unconscious processes underlying dream formation could present the individual with visions of probable situations and challenges, unmapped potentials, or imaginable results that lay in the dreamer’s future.

wait a few months and arrange for his servant to shake a few drops of the perfume onto his pillow while he slept, but without knowing on which night his servant would do it. It worked. Saint-Denys reported multiple examples where his exposure to a given scent caused him to dream of scenes and experiences that had been associated with the perfume.

our original questions—what dreams are, where they come from, what they mean, and what they’re for.

Take a look at people walking down the street, driving in their cars, eating alone in restaurants and cafes. Not so long ago, these people wouldn’t be doing anything else. Their minds would wander and they would daydream; their DMN would be active, and, although they were totally unaware of it, they would be tagging recent memories for processing

The multifaceted, integrative approach to dreams espoused by De Sanctis was perhaps best exemplified when he wrote that to be properly understood and interpreted, a dream had to be viewed as a mathematical sum: “The fundamental state of the dreamer (past experiences, intelligence, character, old habits) + the state of the moment (aspirations,

we also find a sub-network that helps us recall past events and imagine future ones, another that helps us navigate through space, and yet another that helps us interpret the words and actions of others. And these are the mental functions associated with mind wandering.