🚀 go-pugleaf

Many times I have woken because of a thunder clap, or a door slamming,
and realized that I had been dreaming a dream where a thunderous clap
would have been totally logical. For example, I had a dream where I 
was in a bank while it was being held up. I saw a robber aim a gun
at a hostage and shoot. The clap I heard was the result of a door
(in real life) being slammed in the appartment next door.

Question: When one hears sounds during sleep, and this type of dream
occurs, does the brain, in an attempt to explain the sound, create an
entire (perhaps quite complex) dream sequence? Or does it ~alter~
the current sequence so that the external sound ~fits~ into it? If
the latter is true, does it not have to create or alter memories of 
earlier parts of the sequence to support the alteration?

Also, I have fallen asleep with the T.V. on and woken up realizing that
I had just dreamed a dream that was influenced slightly throughout it's
duration by the sounds coming from the set. The dream itself was dissimilar
from the program on T.V., yet events in the dream, that were obviously
influenced by the external sounds, seemed to occur naturally at times when
such events ~could~ occur.

Does anyone have any comments on this strange phenomenon?

					-mickey
					Michael Thompson
					...ihnp4!sun!altos86!mickey