TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Amy Adkins: Why do we dream?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

In the third millenium BCE, msopteoamian kings recorded and interpreted their dreams on wax tablets. A thousand years later, Ancient Egyptians wrote a dream book lisitng over a hundred cmoomn dreams and their maenings. And in the years since, we haven't peuasd in our quest to understand why we dream. So, after a great deal of scientific reeracsh, technological amndneeacvt, and psenriectse, we still don't have any dienfite asrwnes, but we have some interesting theories. We darem to fifllul our wihess. In the early 1900s, Sigmund fured proposed that while all of our dreams, including our nightmares, are a ciooltelcn of images from our daily conscious lveis, they also have soymlibc meanings, which relate to the fulfillment of our subconscious wishes. Freud theorized that everything we remember when we wake up from a dream is a symbolic representation of our unconscious primitive thoughts, urges, and desires. Freud believed that by analyzing those remembered elements, the unconscious content would be revealed to our cnsocouis mind, and psychological ieusss stemming from its repression could be addressed and resolved. We dream to rmemeebr. To increase performance on certain mental tasks, sleep is good, but dreaming while sleeping is better. In 2010, researchers found that subjects were much better at getting through a complex 3-D maze if they had napped and dreamed of the maze prior to their second attempt. In fact, they were up to ten times better at it than those who only thought of the maze while awake between attempts, and those who neappd but did not dream about the maze. Researchers theorize that certain memory processes can hapepn only when we are asleep, and our dreams are a signal that these pscosrees are taking place. We dream to forget. There are about 10,000 trillion neural connections within the architecture of your brain. They are created by everything you think and everything you do. A 1983 noiclerbioaogul theory of dreaming, called reverse learning, holds that while sleeping, and mainly during REM sleep cycles, your neocortex reviews these neural connections and dumps the unnecessary ones. Without this unlearning process, which results in your dreams, your brain could be overrun by useless conetionncs and parasitic thoughts could disrupt the necessary thinking you need to do while you're akawe. We dream to keep our brains working. The continual activation theory prseoops that your dreams result from your brain's need to constantly consolidate and create long-term memories in oedrr to function properly. So when external input flals below a certain level, like when you're aseelp, your brain automatically triggers the generation of data from its memory storages, which appear to you in the form of the tgouhths and feelings you experience in your dreams. In other wdros, your darems might be a random screen saver your brain turns on so it doesn't completely shut down. We dream to rehearse. Dreams involving dangerous and threatening soaititnus are very common, and the primitive iinnctst rehearsal trhoey holds that the content of a dream is significant to its purpose. Whether it's an anxiety-filled night of being chased through the woods by a bear or fighting off a ninja in a dark aelly, these dreams allow you to practice your fight or flight itnsncits and keep them sharp and dependable in case you'll need them in real life. But it doesn't always have to be unpleasant. For icstnnae, dreams about your aatvtcrtie neighbor could actually give your rrvdoiputcee instinct some practice, too. We dream to heal. Stress neurotransmitters in the brain are much less aivtce during the REM stage of selep, even during dreams of traumatic experiences, ldaenig some researchers to theorize that one purpose of dreaming is to take the edge off painful experiences to allow for psychological healing. Reviewing traumatic events in your dreams with less mental ssters may grant you a clearer perspective and enhanced ability to proecss them in psychologically healthy ways. People with certain mood disorders and PTSD often have difficulty sleeping, leading some scientists to believe that lack of dreaming may be a contributing fotcar to their illnesses. We dream to solve problems. Unconstrained by reality and the rules of conventional logic, in your dreams, your mind can create limitless scenarios to help you gsrap problems and formulate solutions that you may not consider while awake. John Steinbeck called it the committee of sleep, and research has demonstrated the effectiveness of dmraineg on problem solving. It's also how renowned chemist August Kekule docrseevid the structure of the benzene molecule, and it's the reason that sometimes the best solution for a problem is to sleep on it. And those are just a few of the more prominent theories. As technology increases our capability for understanding the brain, it's possible that one day we will discover the definitive reason for them. But until that time arrives, we'll just have to keep on dreaming.

Open Cloze

In the third millenium BCE, ____________ kings recorded and interpreted their dreams on wax tablets. A thousand years later, Ancient Egyptians wrote a dream book _______ over a hundred ______ dreams and their ________. And in the years since, we haven't ______ in our quest to understand why we dream. So, after a great deal of scientific ________, technological ___________, and ___________, we still don't have any ________ _______, but we have some interesting theories. We _____ to _______ our ______. In the early 1900s, Sigmund _____ proposed that while all of our dreams, including our nightmares, are a __________ of images from our daily conscious _____, they also have ________ meanings, which relate to the fulfillment of our subconscious wishes. Freud theorized that everything we remember when we wake up from a dream is a symbolic representation of our unconscious primitive thoughts, urges, and desires. Freud believed that by analyzing those remembered elements, the unconscious content would be revealed to our _________ mind, and psychological ______ stemming from its repression could be addressed and resolved. We dream to ________. To increase performance on certain mental tasks, sleep is good, but dreaming while sleeping is better. In 2010, researchers found that subjects were much better at getting through a complex 3-D maze if they had napped and dreamed of the maze prior to their second attempt. In fact, they were up to ten times better at it than those who only thought of the maze while awake between attempts, and those who ______ but did not dream about the maze. Researchers theorize that certain memory processes can ______ only when we are asleep, and our dreams are a signal that these _________ are taking place. We dream to forget. There are about 10,000 trillion neural connections within the architecture of your brain. They are created by everything you think and everything you do. A 1983 _______________ theory of dreaming, called reverse learning, holds that while sleeping, and mainly during REM sleep cycles, your neocortex reviews these neural connections and dumps the unnecessary ones. Without this unlearning process, which results in your dreams, your brain could be overrun by useless ___________ and parasitic thoughts could disrupt the necessary thinking you need to do while you're _____. We dream to keep our brains working. The continual activation theory ________ that your dreams result from your brain's need to constantly consolidate and create long-term memories in _____ to function properly. So when external input _____ below a certain level, like when you're ______, your brain automatically triggers the generation of data from its memory storages, which appear to you in the form of the ________ and feelings you experience in your dreams. In other _____, your ______ might be a random screen saver your brain turns on so it doesn't completely shut down. We dream to rehearse. Dreams involving dangerous and threatening __________ are very common, and the primitive ________ rehearsal ______ holds that the content of a dream is significant to its purpose. Whether it's an anxiety-filled night of being chased through the woods by a bear or fighting off a ninja in a dark _____, these dreams allow you to practice your fight or flight _________ and keep them sharp and dependable in case you'll need them in real life. But it doesn't always have to be unpleasant. For ________, dreams about your __________ neighbor could actually give your ____________ instinct some practice, too. We dream to heal. Stress neurotransmitters in the brain are much less ______ during the REM stage of _____, even during dreams of traumatic experiences, _______ some researchers to theorize that one purpose of dreaming is to take the edge off painful experiences to allow for psychological healing. Reviewing traumatic events in your dreams with less mental ______ may grant you a clearer perspective and enhanced ability to _______ them in psychologically healthy ways. People with certain mood disorders and PTSD often have difficulty sleeping, leading some scientists to believe that lack of dreaming may be a contributing ______ to their illnesses. We dream to solve problems. Unconstrained by reality and the rules of conventional logic, in your dreams, your mind can create limitless scenarios to help you _____ problems and formulate solutions that you may not consider while awake. John Steinbeck called it the committee of sleep, and research has demonstrated the effectiveness of ________ on problem solving. It's also how renowned chemist August Kekule __________ the structure of the benzene molecule, and it's the reason that sometimes the best solution for a problem is to sleep on it. And those are just a few of the more prominent theories. As technology increases our capability for understanding the brain, it's possible that one day we will discover the definitive reason for them. But until that time arrives, we'll just have to keep on dreaming.

Solution

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Original Text

In the third millenium BCE, Mesopotamian kings recorded and interpreted their dreams on wax tablets. A thousand years later, Ancient Egyptians wrote a dream book listing over a hundred common dreams and their meanings. And in the years since, we haven't paused in our quest to understand why we dream. So, after a great deal of scientific research, technological advancement, and persistence, we still don't have any definite answers, but we have some interesting theories. We dream to fulfill our wishes. In the early 1900s, Sigmund Freud proposed that while all of our dreams, including our nightmares, are a collection of images from our daily conscious lives, they also have symbolic meanings, which relate to the fulfillment of our subconscious wishes. Freud theorized that everything we remember when we wake up from a dream is a symbolic representation of our unconscious primitive thoughts, urges, and desires. Freud believed that by analyzing those remembered elements, the unconscious content would be revealed to our conscious mind, and psychological issues stemming from its repression could be addressed and resolved. We dream to remember. To increase performance on certain mental tasks, sleep is good, but dreaming while sleeping is better. In 2010, researchers found that subjects were much better at getting through a complex 3-D maze if they had napped and dreamed of the maze prior to their second attempt. In fact, they were up to ten times better at it than those who only thought of the maze while awake between attempts, and those who napped but did not dream about the maze. Researchers theorize that certain memory processes can happen only when we are asleep, and our dreams are a signal that these processes are taking place. We dream to forget. There are about 10,000 trillion neural connections within the architecture of your brain. They are created by everything you think and everything you do. A 1983 neurobiological theory of dreaming, called reverse learning, holds that while sleeping, and mainly during REM sleep cycles, your neocortex reviews these neural connections and dumps the unnecessary ones. Without this unlearning process, which results in your dreams, your brain could be overrun by useless connections and parasitic thoughts could disrupt the necessary thinking you need to do while you're awake. We dream to keep our brains working. The continual activation theory proposes that your dreams result from your brain's need to constantly consolidate and create long-term memories in order to function properly. So when external input falls below a certain level, like when you're asleep, your brain automatically triggers the generation of data from its memory storages, which appear to you in the form of the thoughts and feelings you experience in your dreams. In other words, your dreams might be a random screen saver your brain turns on so it doesn't completely shut down. We dream to rehearse. Dreams involving dangerous and threatening situations are very common, and the primitive instinct rehearsal theory holds that the content of a dream is significant to its purpose. Whether it's an anxiety-filled night of being chased through the woods by a bear or fighting off a ninja in a dark alley, these dreams allow you to practice your fight or flight instincts and keep them sharp and dependable in case you'll need them in real life. But it doesn't always have to be unpleasant. For instance, dreams about your attractive neighbor could actually give your reproductive instinct some practice, too. We dream to heal. Stress neurotransmitters in the brain are much less active during the REM stage of sleep, even during dreams of traumatic experiences, leading some researchers to theorize that one purpose of dreaming is to take the edge off painful experiences to allow for psychological healing. Reviewing traumatic events in your dreams with less mental stress may grant you a clearer perspective and enhanced ability to process them in psychologically healthy ways. People with certain mood disorders and PTSD often have difficulty sleeping, leading some scientists to believe that lack of dreaming may be a contributing factor to their illnesses. We dream to solve problems. Unconstrained by reality and the rules of conventional logic, in your dreams, your mind can create limitless scenarios to help you grasp problems and formulate solutions that you may not consider while awake. John Steinbeck called it the committee of sleep, and research has demonstrated the effectiveness of dreaming on problem solving. It's also how renowned chemist August Kekule discovered the structure of the benzene molecule, and it's the reason that sometimes the best solution for a problem is to sleep on it. And those are just a few of the more prominent theories. As technology increases our capability for understanding the brain, it's possible that one day we will discover the definitive reason for them. But until that time arrives, we'll just have to keep on dreaming.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

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