Similarities Between The Hippocampus And The Amygdala

For years, scientists and researchers have studied ways to understand and describe dreams. They’ve tested many theories and hypothesis to answer the many questions that surround dreams. Strauch and Meier describe dreams as “…a world of experiences, where, seemingly separated from our waking lives, we lead a second existence” (1). That being said, how is the brain able to remember these other lives we live in the dream-state? Brains are a complex set of nerves so many factors play a part in why one would or wouldn’t remember a dream. One factor that helps the brain remember dreams is the fact that dreams are based of memories and past emotions. Another factor is the role that gender plays in remembering our dreams. These factors can help understand
226). In order to determine why or how dreams are remembered, researchers have studied the hippocampus and the amygdala. They know that both, the hippocampus and the amygdala, are responsible for the storing and retrieval of memories. The hippocampus and the amygdala are located in the temporal lobe of the brain. Nielsen and Stenstrom claim that changes made to the hippocampus have an effect of the characteristics of dreams (1286). They also claim that, “the emotional sources of dreaming are probably regulated by the amygdala…” (Nielsen and Stenstrom 1288). Assuming these claims are correct, the hippocampus deals with the remembering of events and integrating them into dreams, and the amygdala integrates the emotions from those events into dreams. All of these factors help researchers to explain and understand
Blagrove, et al, call this “the dream- lag effect.” This means that there is “…a reappearance of features from events occurring 5-7 days prior to the dream” (1). A study was conducted where one college student would keep a journal, and record what she could remember from her dreams and her overall happiness. The participate was asked to record everything she remembered about her dreams into a tape recorder. After collecting her dreams for about a month, the dreams would be tested against the journal for similarities. Researchers looked for similarities in location, people, emotions, objects, etc. They also recorded when the dream occurred and when the day that the dream was based off was written about in her journal (Kookoolis, et al. 211-217). The study proved that most of her memories were based from real-life events and feelings. Strsuch and Meier also found that “[e]motions that occur in dreams cover the full range known from the waking state” (234). In turn, researchers can assume that the easy retrieval could be because her dreams were based off events from her waking