Only half of the population remembers their dreams regularly, however many people read significance into them and numerous theories have been proposed to explain the phenomenon of dreaming (Haralambos et al. 2002). Although it is universally accepted that dreaming is “a stage of sleep characterized by the experience of visual imagery and rapid eye movement (in the REM stage)” each theory proposes a different function/aspect of dreaming, most theories belonging to either the neurobiological or the psychological classification of dream theories (Cardwell, Clark & Meldrum, 2004). The neurobiological approach in psychology attempts to find the relationship between the human body and the electrical and chemical impulses in the brain, whilst a psychological approach focuses more on emotions and thoughts (Haralambos et al.
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However immediately prior to the first night of dreaming subjects attended a lecture “summarizing the literature on problem solving in dreams” and describing the process of dream incubation (Barrett, 1993). Dement’s (1974) definition of dream incubation is (as cited in Barrett, 1993) "a practiced technique of learning to ‘plant a seed’ in the mind … for a specific dream topic to occur" (Barrett, 1993). Thus this technique was followed daily to develop individual dreams addressing problems chosen by the dreamer (either of a personal, general objective or academic nature) for a week as a homework assignment in their class on dreaming (Barrett, 1993). Subjects were instructed to record all dreams they could recall and note which they thought were on the topic of their problem and which solved the problem in question (Barrett, 1993). 50% of these subjects "recalled a dream which they felt was related to the problem", and of
However immediately prior to the first night of dreaming subjects attended a lecture “summarizing the literature on problem solving in dreams” and describing the process of dream incubation (Barrett, 1993). Dement’s (1974) definition of dream incubation is (as cited in Barrett, 1993) "a practiced technique of learning to ‘plant a seed’ in the mind … for a specific dream topic to occur" (Barrett, 1993). Thus this technique was followed daily to develop individual dreams addressing problems chosen by the dreamer (either of a personal, general objective or academic nature) for a week as a homework assignment in their class on dreaming (Barrett, 1993). Subjects were instructed to record all dreams they could recall and note which they thought were on the topic of their problem and which solved the problem in question (Barrett, 1993). 50% of these subjects "recalled a dream which they felt was related to the problem", and of