Consciousness, Sleep, and Dreams

Key concepts students will learn:

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  Sigmund Freud's work, particularly "The Interpretation of Dreams," laid the groundwork for psychoanalysis, and modern neuroscience is finding some of his ideas about the unconscious mind, ego, id, and superego to have a basis in brain activity.

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  During dreaming, the prefrontal cortex and orbital frontal cortex are less active, reducing rational thought and fact-checking, while the amygdala, responsible for fear and emotions, becomes more active.

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  Lucid dreaming, the ability to control the direction of one's dreams, has been scientifically validated through experiments, such as those at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, where subjects were able to demonstrate conscious control by performing pre-determined actions like clenching a fist while dreaming, showing that consciousness can be maintained during the dream state.