Dreams Help Consolidate Our Memory

Sleep plays an very important role in different forms of memory. We think that dreams may play a role in some of these processes. Our brain clearly shows a preference for incorporating emotionally salient experiences from our waking life. But then it does things that it cannot do in wakefulness. Namely, it takes that experience and searches through all its memory banks for weakly associated experiences that tie into it. This is probably due to the particular neura chemistry of the brain when it is asleep. And depending on how you react in your dreams, your cognitive reactions, your emotional reactions, your dreaming brain uses information to say yes, this is a useful connection.