Notes

during REM sleep, electrical signals called electroencephalogram recordings, or EEGs, pass through the brain. They theorized that the brain naturally reacted by attempting to make sense of the random stimulus. Thus, dreams had no intrinsic meaning; they were just a side effect of the brain’s normal activity. While this theory was revolutionary at the time, the continual advancement of technology has led to tremendous revision of this theory.

Electroencephalogram recordings, or EEGs, are electrical impulses that go through the brain during REM sleep, according to Hobson and McCarley. They hypothesized that the brain’s natural response was to try to interpret the random stimuli. Thus, dreams were only a by-product of the brain’s regular functioning and had no fundamental meaning. Although this idea was ground-breaking when it was first proposed, it has undergone a significant adjustment as a result of the ongoing development of technology.

There are five phases of sleep in a sleep cycle:
Dreams most likely happen during REM sleep

REM and Activation-Synthesis