
BRAIN MATTERS SEMINARS
The past, present and future of
Neuroscience in southern Africa
SEMINAR
SUMMARY
Neural Mechanisms of Dreaming
The third seminar in the series was held on Friday 18th August 2017. The presenter, Professor Mark Solms, Director of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town, spoke on: ‘The neural mechanisms of dreaming’.
The discovery of the brain mechanisms of REM sleep in the 1960s and 70s suggested that dreaming is a meaningless physiological state. More recent findings suggest otherwise: dreams are generated by a network of forebrain structures responsible for specific memory and motivational functions. This lecture reconsidered the old Freudian theories in light of these new findings.