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In article <3@.UUCP> mickey@.UUCP (Michael Thompson) writes:
>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?
>
>					-mickey
>					Michael Thompson
>					...ihnp4!sun!altos86!mickey


I know exactly what you mean.  

Of course, there's nothing unusual with external stimuli influencing
dreams, since we're still aware of our surroundings to some extent
even when asleep.  The sounds from a TV or the fact that an arm has
"fallen asleep" because of blood supply being cut down due to a bad
sleeping position can certainly influence dreams.

However, the puzzling thing is when a dream is influenced by a
~single, instantaneous~ event like a door slamming, especially when
the event actually causes you to wake up and recognize it.

This has happened to me, and yet, as described by Michael Thompson,
the event fit logically into the previous action of the dream.

Since it's a bit hard to accept that a dream could anticipate an external
event, the only sensible explanation seems to be that the entire dream
sequence is manufactured after the event.  This would seem to indicate
i) time in dreams does not proceed at the same rate as real time, since
   the dream may appear to last several minutes, but would have to in
   fact be manufactured as a whole in the instant between the door slamming
   and you waking up to hear the noise still ringing in your ears
ii) dreams must play tricks on your memory, since you so clearly remember
   the previous action of the dream as having taken place before the
   door slamming (and its counterpart event within the dream)

Gordan Palameta    Usenet:  {!seismo, !utzoo} !mnetor!genat!maccs!gordan