第1685期:Why do we dream?

There are no clear answers to the question of why we dream, but there are different theories. Dreaming is extraordinary and strange: you hallucinate, believe impossible things, and people you know may merge into one another. And then, to top it off, you will likely forget all about it.

我们为什么会做梦这个问题没有明确的答案，但有不同的理论。做梦是非凡而奇怪的：你产生幻觉，相信不可能的事情，你认识的人可能会融合在一起。然后，最重要的是，您可能会完全忘记它。

Memory storage could be one reason for why we dream. When you are asleep, the brain decides what information you should move to your long-term memory and what should be unlearnt. In a TED Talk, psychologist Amy Adkins described a 2010 experiment involving participants studying how to get out of a complex 3D maze. It was found that they were much better at attempting it if they had had a nap and dreamt of the maze.

记忆存储可能是我们做梦的原因之一。当你睡着时，大脑会决定哪些信息应该转移到你的长期记忆中，哪些应该忘记。在 TED 演讲中，心理学家艾米·阿德金斯 (Amy Adkins) 描述了 2010 年的一项实验，参与者研究如何走出复杂的 3D 迷宫。结果发现，如果他们小睡并梦见迷宫，他们会更擅长尝试。

Another purpose of dreams could be the processing of our daily emotions, which may add to emotional memory consolidation. In 2003, the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience published research that experimented with the idea of dreams being a replication of our daily lives. Diary entries and dream journals of 29 healthy young adults over a two-week period were compared, and it was discovered that emotional themes from the day were replicated in dreams 35-55% of the time.

梦的另一个目的可能是我们日常情绪的处理，这可能会增加情绪记忆的巩固。 2003 年，《认知神经科学杂志》发表了一项研究，试验将梦境作为我们日常生活的复制品。比较了 29 名健康年轻人在两周内的日记条目和梦境日志，发现当天的情感主题在 35-55% 的时间里被复制到梦境中。

Antti Revonsuo, a Finnish scientist, has suggested that dreaming helps us to prepare for and deal with stressful situations. He studied children’s nightmares, giving an example of being continuously chased by wolves. He believes dreams like this stem from our ancestors and could be a rehearsal for daily struggle and survival. In modern times, dreams and nightmares may be preparing us for social situations such as having a fight with a friend, going on a date or having a job interview.

芬兰科学家 Antti Revonsuo 提出，做梦可以帮助我们准备和应对压力大的情况。他研究了孩子们的噩梦，举了一个不断被狼追赶的例子。他认为这样的梦想源于我们的祖先，可以作为日常奋斗和生存的彩排。在现代，梦想和噩梦可能让我们为社交场合做好准备，例如与朋友吵架、约会或参加工作面试。

With such a variety of theories on why we dream, it seems that more research is needed before we can completely understand their purpose.

关于我们为什么会做梦的理论多种多样，似乎需要更多的研究才能完全理解它们的目的。

词汇表

extraordinary 奇特的，非凡的
hallucinate 产生幻觉
merge 使合并、融合
memory storage 记忆储存
long-term memory 长期记忆
unlearnt 忘却
maze 迷宫
a nap 小睡，打盹
processing 处理
consolidation 巩固
replication 复制
diary entries 日记
dream journal 梦境日志
emotional theme 情感主题
nightmare 噩梦
chased 被追赶
stem from 由…造成，源自
ancestor 祖先
rehearsal 演练
struggle 挣扎，奋斗