How Artificial Neural Networks Paved the Way For A Dramatic New Theory of Dreams

Psychologists, neuroscientists and others have pondered the origin and role of dreams for time immemorial. Freud suggested that they were a way of expressing frustrations associated with taboos -- an idea that has long been discredited. Others have suggested dreams are a kind of emotional thermostat that allow us to control and resolve emotional conflicts. However, critics point out that most dreams lack strong emotional content and that emotionally neutral dreams are common. Still others say dreams are part of the process the brain uses to fix memories or to selectively forget unwanted or unneeded memories.