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Dreaming is just really weird, when you think about it.
当你想到梦的时候，会觉得它很奇怪。
When you're asleep, your brain makes up these elaborate scenarios
当你睡着时，大脑会编造出这些复杂的场景：
where you're leading a herd of talking apples or riding robot llamas through the jungle or something.
你带领一群说话的苹果或骑着机器人骆驼穿越丛林之类的东西。
And most of the time, you have no idea it isn't real.
大多数时候，你不知道这不是真的。
Then when you wake up, you forget most of the dream and move on with your life.
当你醒来时，忘记了大部分的梦，然后继续生活。
Like, that's not strange at all.
这一点都不奇怪。
There's a lot of research into the science of dreaming, and sleep in general,
有很多关于梦和睡眠科学的研究，
but dreams can be especially important in psychology.
但梦在心理学上尤其重要。
I mean, don't go reaching for those dream interpretation books or anything.
我的意思是，不要去找那些解释梦的书或任何东西。
But your dreams might mean more than you think.
梦可能比你想象的更有意义。
Even though everyone probably does it, scientists still aren't sure exactly how we dream.
尽管每个人可能都做过梦，科学家仍然不确定我们到底是如何做梦的。
It's often associated with rapid eye movement, or REM sleep,
做梦通常与快速眼动或快速眼动睡眠有关，
a phase of sleep where your brain looks as active as when you're awake,
大脑在睡眠时和清醒时一样活跃的阶段，
but there's evidence that we dream in non-REM sleep, too.
但有证据表明，在非快速眼动睡眠中我们也会做梦。
So we're still figuring out some of the biology involved,
所以我们还在研究其中的一些生物学原理，
but psychologists do have a few theories about how our brains use dreams.
但是心理学家的一些理论可以解释大脑做梦的方式。
And sorry, Sigmund Freud, but they aren't all freaky sex messages.
抱歉，西格蒙德·弗洛伊德，但这些并不是变态的性信息。
In fact, a lot of our dreams are pretty boring, and according to one theory,
事实上，我们的很多梦都很无聊，根据理论，
that's because your brain uses dreams for learning and memory consolidation in a process called cognitive-level memory reactivation.
这是因为大脑利用梦境来学习和巩固记忆，这一过程被称为认知层面的记忆再激活。
The idea is that, while you dream, your brain reactivates the neurons it used to learn information while you were awake.
也就是，当你做梦的时候，你的大脑会重新激活醒着的时候用来学习信息的神经元。
These kinds of dreams usually happen during non-REM sleep in the beginning of the night.
这类梦通常发生在夜初的非快速眼动睡眠中。
For example, in a 2010 study published in Current Biology, participants practiced completing a virtual maze,
例如，2010年发表在《当代生物学》(Current Biology)杂志上的一项研究中，参与者练习完成一个虚拟迷宫，
then either took a 90-minute nap or stayed awake.
然后要么小睡90分钟，要么保持清醒。
During the next round of testing, those who took a nap finished faster on average than those who didn't,
在接下来的测试中，午睡的人比不午睡的人完成得快。
but the real MVPs were the group who took a nap and dreamed about something related to the task:
但真正最优秀的是那些小睡片刻的人，他们所做的梦与任务相关：
They improved up to ten times more than the others.
这些人和其他人相比进步了十倍。
This doesn't necessarily mean that dreaming itself gives you a better memory.
这并不意味着做梦就能让你记忆力更好。
The dreams might just be a side effect of what your brain is doing —
梦可能只是大脑活动的副作用——
reactivating neurons to solidify information and encode it into long-term memory.
重新激活神经元以巩固信息并将其编码到长期记忆中。
But it might explain the more boring dreams we have.
但这也许可以解释为什么我们做更无聊的梦。
It doesn't really explain why some of our dreams are just flat-out weird, though.
但这并不能真正解释为什么我们的一些梦平淡无奇。
And that's where the contemporary theory of dreaming comes in.
这就是当代做梦理论的由来。
The idea is that your dreams are mainly controlled by what emotions you're feeling, not what you've learned lately.
梦主要是由情绪控制，而不是最近经历的事情。
If you're experiencing one really strong emotion, you'll probably have simpler dreams—
如果你正在经历一种非常强烈的情绪，可能你的梦更简单——
like, if you're feeling overwhelmed, you might dream you're being sucked up by a tornado.
比如，如果你感到不知所措，你可能会梦见自己被龙卷风卷走了。
But if you're feeling multiple emotions, your dreams can get more complicated and random.
但如果你有多种情绪，你的梦可能会变得更加复杂和随机。
This theory may also help explain the relationship psychologists have seen between dreaming and trauma,
这个理论也有助于解释心理学家发现的梦与创伤之间的关系，
especially in those with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
尤其是那些患有创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的人。
Frequent, disruptive nightmares are actually one of the potential criteria for diagnosing someone with PTSD,
频繁的破坏性噩梦实际上是诊断创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）患者的潜在条件之一，
with up to 96% of patients reporting nightmares related to the trauma they experienced.
高达96％的患者声称，噩梦与他们所经历的创伤相关。
According to the contemporary theory of dreaming,
根据当代做梦理论，
people with PTSD have nightmares because dreaming can help us resolve traumatic emotions.
创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）患者会做噩梦，因为做梦可以帮助我们抚慰受伤的情绪。
By processing them in our sleep, the memories might feel less painful when we're awake.
通过在睡眠中处理这些记忆，人在醒来可能不会感觉那么痛苦。
That's what the brain is trying to do, at least.
至少这是大脑努力做的事情。
It's not always successful, which is why PTSD often doesn't just go away on its own.
并不是每次都会成功，这就是为什么创伤后应激障碍不会自行消失的原因。
There's also another theory, the threat simulation theory of dreaming,
还有另一种理论——威胁模拟做梦理论，
which says that nightmares could be your brain preparing you for danger in the real world.
也就是说噩梦可能是你的大脑在为你现实世界中的危险做准备。
According to threat simulation theory, dreams were selected for during evolution to help us survive —
根据威胁模拟理论，进化过程中，做梦帮助我们生存——
as opposed to being controlled by emotions.
而不是让我们被情绪控制。
So if you dream you're being chased by an angry sabre tooth tiger
所以，如果你梦到自己被一只愤怒的剑齿虎追赶，
your brain might just be preparing you in case you're attacked in real life.
你的大脑可能只是在为你现实生活中遭到攻击做准备。
The idea matches what psychologists have seen in studies — like in a 2005 study of almost 200 children,
这个想法与心理学家的研究发现相吻合——比如2005年对近200名儿童的研究，
where researchers found evidence that being exposed to danger, like violence or abuse,
研究人员发现了表明危险的证据，比如暴力或虐待，
primes our brains to dream about dangerous scenarios even more, possibly to prepare against future threats.
我们的大脑梦到更多危险的情景，可能在为未来的威胁做准备。
And based on what we know about dreaming and trauma, it makes sense that your brain would do this.
根据我们对做梦和创伤的了解，就会明白大脑为什么这样做。
I mean, dreaming is kind of like a simulator where you can't hurt yourself.
我的意思是，做梦有点像模拟器，你不会伤害自己。
The threat simulation theory alone can't really explain all of our dreams, though,
然而，威胁模拟理论无法真正解释所有的梦。
and it's possible that your brain uses dreaming in a lot of different ways.
可能是因为大脑做梦方式不同的原因。
There are also plenty of scientists who think dreams don't have a specific purpose at all —
也有很多科学家认为梦根本没有特定的目的——
they're just what happens when neurons randomly fire while you sleep.
做梦就是睡觉时神经元随机放电时产生的现象。
So, it's hard to know exactly why you dreamed that you forgot to study for a final and showed up without pants,
所以，很难确切地知道为什么你梦到自己忘记准备期末考试而没有穿裤子，
or tried to ride a horse down the highway.
或者试图在公路上骑马。
But your brain might be trying to help you process emotions or prepare for some kind of threat.
但是你的大脑可能在试图帮助你处理情绪或者为某种威胁做准备。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych, brought to you by our patrons on Patreon.
感谢收看本集《心理科学秀》，本期节目由Patreon赞助。
If you'd like to help us keep supporting the show, you can go to patreon.com/scishow,
如果你想继续观看我们的节目，可以登陆patreon.com/scishow.com，
and for more episodes like this, visit youtube.com/scishowpsych and subscribe.
如您想欣赏更多类似的内容，可以访问并订阅youtube.com/scishowpsych。
