Scientists Match Dream Images To Photos

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Scientists Match Dream Images To Photos

Posted by Soulskill on Friday October 19, 2012 @09:36AM from the that's-nice-but-please-don't dept.

scibri writes "Scientists have learned how to discover what you are dreaming about while you sleep. A team of Japanese researchers scanned the brains of three people as they slept, and compared the scans to those of the same people looking at photos of common objects. They were then able to tell, with 75% — 80% accuracy, if one of those images appeared in a dream."

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Pron? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 09:41 · Score: 0

That is all
1. Re:Pron? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 10:18 · Score: 0
  
  Oh no, they will soon be able to detect my rape and murder fantasies and throw me in prison!
  
  I'm a girl by the way.
Uh-oh... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 09:42 · Score: 4, Funny

Don't show naked women, don't show naked women...
1. Re:Uh-oh... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 09:50 · Score: 1
  
  Um, why? Afraid they'll find out you are not gay?
2. Re:Uh-oh... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 21:55 · Score: 0
  
  Lemme guess... you're a typical pussy whipped beta male who's married and afraid of offending your Queen? Afraid of being exiled from the bedroom and sleeping on the couch in *your* house?
3. Re:Uh-oh... by epSos-de · 2012-10-19 22:58 · Score: 0
  
  They would be blurry and discolored anyway. I believe that pictures from the dreams are more suggestive than realistic. Like one of the photos I created a while ago: http://flic.kr/p/7A83gW . Look how the plants are all recognizable, even if you can not see them directly. They are all just shapes in dirty water, but the brain thinks that they are real.
  
  --
  ~ Best man at your service.
4. Re:Uh-oh... by Hognoxious · 2012-10-20 03:53 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Odd, it looks more like some dude stretching his asshole to me.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Security through Obscurity by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 09:42 · Score: 1

Luckily for me I rarely dream about existing, much less common, objects.
1. Re:Security through Obscurity by Tablizer · 2012-10-19 16:23 · Score: 1
  
  Luckily for me I rarely dream about existing, much less common, objects.
  Sorry Charley, our Dreamcam covers that also:
  http://www.buamai.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/5492075647_6909666779_o.jpg
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
Well... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 09:43 · Score: 1

if you are dreaming images of common objects your dreams are not interesting enough to be worth the research...
1. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 09:58 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  While working in shipping at Dell during one of those months where we were working 10 hour days for over 30 days straight I used to have erotic dreams about Dell shipping boxes.
  Damn straight I'm posting that AC, no way in hell would I like that associated with my ...... hmm
  apk
2. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 14:09 · Score: 1
  
  I've got you now, baby boy!
  
  Alexander Peter Kowalski - 903 East Division St. - Syracuse, NY 13208 - DOB: 01/31/1965 - Mother: Jan Kowalski - - DOB: 12/03/1933
Japanese researchers by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 09:46 · Score: 2, Funny

I predict a high probability of tentacles and schoolgirls.
That tech in Prometheus wasn't so far fetched, , , by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 09:50 · Score: 1

I remember when David was viewing the dreams of the cryosleeping crew thinking that is just stupid. I'll buy spaceships and aliens, but we'll never have tech like that. I'll be damned, we have a primitive form now. And by 'we' I mean 'they'.
obligatory PBF by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 09:51 · Score: 5, Funny

http://pbfcomics.com/160/
1. Re:obligatory PBF by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 14:22 · Score: 0
  
  thanks, didn't realize they had new ones up!
In further news... by Synerg1y · 2012-10-19 09:52 · Score: 1

Did I see Christopher Nolan in that dream last night?
let me know when i can control my dreams by RobertLTux · 2012-10-19 10:10 · Score: 3, Interesting

this of course would make 98% of TV rather boring in comparison but...

--
Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
1. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by chichilalescu · 2012-10-19 10:14 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  a lot of people can train themselves for lucid dreaming.
  look it up.
  
  --
  new sig
2. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by MrEricSir · 2012-10-19 11:02 · Score: 1
  
  You can. People have been practicing lucid dreaming for centuries.
  These days you can even purchase devices to make lucid dreaming easier.
  
  --
  There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
3. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by DNS-and-BIND · 2012-10-19 11:03 · Score: 1
  
  I did. Unfortunately, the whole "lucid dreaming" thing is overrun by people who think that they are shamans, crystal healers, and all sorts of other fools. It's less about "controlling your dreams" as it is "unlocking past life experiences" and other nonsense.
  
  --
  Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
4. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 11:08 · Score: 0
  
  Indeed, I did it myself a few year back. It takes a fair amount of effort and time when you're not sleeping, but the real effort comes from stopping yourself turning a lucid dream into an excuse to have sex with anyone you can imagine!
5. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by PrimaryConsult · 2012-10-19 11:24 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  That's why you learn from either a print book, or the simplest online guide out there, and ignore the discussion community entirely...
  I know it is real because I have accidentally done it a few times, I just really don't care enough to improve the odds by doing all the mental exercises out there.
  An easy example: A sign that you are dreaming is inconsistent numbers, and simply being aware of this fact will help trigger lucid dreams if you encounter numbers in a dream. To improve the chances of this occurring, you can make a habit of checking your watch / clocks / other things with numbers twice while awake, and verify that the numbers remain consistent. This isn't as easy as it sounds, which is why I gave up...
6. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 13:13 · Score: 0
  
  Inception, anyone?
7. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by chichilalescu · 2012-10-19 13:14 · Score: 1
  
  I went to the wikipedia page after reading the xkcd comic that had "lucid dreaming" in its mouseover text.
  There, I saw that lucid dreaming is taught to people who have a lot of nightmares, while undergoing therapy, so that they can gain control over their dreams.
  It sounded intriguing, but I didn't have the patience to learn more about it.
  In any case, sorry to hear you ran into stupid people.
  But if you did train yourself to do this, I do have a couple of questions:
  (1) can you control the passage of time in your dreams in any way?
  (2) how elevated is the math you can do without waking up?
  
  --
  new sig
8. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 17:16 · Score: 0
  
  Basically, you just want to get into the habit of checking for dream logic during your waking hours. I wouldn't say it's hard, just tedious in the same way that making your voice more feminine is tedious; all you have to do is follow the exercises and keep on it. The problem is not getting bored of counting your fingers or seeing if you fall after jumping.
9. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-20 02:48 · Score: 0
  
  Problem is I check my watch twice anyway because I forgot what it was the first time. If I could remember what time it was the first time I checked, my life would be a lot easier!
10. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by iMadeGhostzilla · 2012-10-20 04:36 · Score: 1
  
  Same thing with text: if you re-read it and it's different, it's a dream. Another one: jump, and if you come down slowly (like you're on Moon gravity), you know you're dreaming.
11. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by Cunning · 2012-10-20 13:14 · Score: 1
  
  I lucid dream most of the time; generally something happens in the dream that doesn't seem right (internal inconsistencies), which alerts me to the fact that it's a dream, and from that point I can control pretty much anything I like, so long as I don't think too hard about it (which causes me to wake up). One thing I have difficulty with is other people's reactions in dreams; I'm not sure if that's because a different part of the brain handles that or what, but the current location, people, objects and laws of physics are easy to mess with. It's utterly amazing, but it does make conventional entertainment pretty dull. Watching some superhero fly around at the movies is extremely meh when you remember what it feels like to do it yourself! Luckily my subconscious isn't too adept at clever plot twists, so I can still enjoy well-written books and movies even if the action sequences are second hand.
12. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by mrxak · 2012-10-20 13:54 · Score: 1
  
  Last time I accidentally started lucid dreaming, I changed the angle of view and aspect ratio of my vision, which was really strange and really kind of cool at the same time. I've been interested in doing more lucid dreaming, but don't really care quite enough to train myself for it. I just enjoy it when it happens.
  
  --
  -mrxak
  Onions Will Kill You
13. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-20 18:22 · Score: 0
  
  Some people do dream checks all the time so they train themselves to do it while dreaming. Feh. I find that doing it before bed is more than enough to remember to do it while dreaming, and makes me look like less of a weirdass.
14. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by riondluz · 2012-10-21 03:56 · Score: 1
  
  Since you mentioned 'Inception' I thought I'd comment that I found and installed an app on my N900 called "realitycheck"
  http://www.linux.com/community/blogs/n900-desktop-widget-lucid-dreaming-reality-check.html
  The app is rather simple: its just a reminder app.
  The mechanism is to look at your hand, then look away, then look at your hand again.
  The idea behind it is that what one does a lot of when awake creeps into our dreams and you will dream about looking at your hand, 2x.
  The reason this is important is that lucid dreaming is controlled by the right hemi of the brain; the visual, emotional side.
  The left (logical) hemi tries to interpret what the right side is experiencing (emotional memories expressed in images).
  When you look at your hand the second time in your dream, your hand will be deformed because the left hemi doesnt have time to process the info fast enough. So, like the top that never winds down, the dreamer knows, in their dream, that they are dreaming.
  This is the point where they have the ability to control their dream.
  
  --
  resist propaganda
15. Re:let me know when i can control my dreams by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-22 00:59 · Score: 0
  
  I tried that once, but it turned out I was actually on the Moon.
In other news: Mandatory Sleep Helmets! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 10:19 · Score: 0

They're stylishly cone shaped and PROVE you're not dreaming of terrorist activities!
No pictures? by partyguerrilla · 2012-10-19 10:28 · Score: 5, Funny

Seriously?
Scary thought. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 10:48 · Score: 1

If their deck of cards includes a seven-armed warrior princess battling a horde of flying possums while I finger her gently then my dream last night is as good as public.
1. Re:Scary thought. by Windwraith · 2012-10-19 11:31 · Score: 1
  
  Uh-oh. They are Japanese!
2. Re:Scary thought. by Mal-2 · 2012-10-19 15:55 · Score: 1
  
  If she has seven arms, why does she need your measly one finger?
  
  --
  How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
3. Re:Scary thought. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 20:10 · Score: 0
  
  You do no that logic takes a flying leap when dreaming, don't you?
4. Re:Scary thought. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-20 05:36 · Score: 0
  
  Because he's that good?
Pffft, my dream determinator is 100% accurate by VortexCortex · 2012-10-19 12:43 · Score: 1, Funny

I've never been wrong when I've said: I can tell you're not dreaming about this picture I drew of the mobile drilling machine I piloted while trying to head off a subterranean nuke-missile and save the world, before I decided to take a detour and visit my "middle-earth" high-school, which is why the pic shows the Magma-Men and I gathered 'round the rig with glowing smiles.
Honestly, you could monitor my dreams and accurately compare every photograph of everything in the entire Universe and you'd still never find a match for what's going on in my head -- Unless, on the off chance you have a picture of a gorgeous nude demon girl with charcoal skin and lidless black eyes with her arm around me sitting on the basket ball bleachers while we watch a swarm of angelic and infernal beasts play a celestial game of hoops with my flaming immortal soul...
day dreams by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-19 16:19 · Score: 0

then they will know i can fly.
so many dreams there just are no pictures... by die+standing · 2012-10-19 20:41 · Score: 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgNgAiGQ_IM
Re:In other news: Mandatory Sleep Helmets! by J.J.+Dane · 2012-10-19 21:30 · Score: 1

It'd probably leave you open to all sorts of copyright violation charges. For instance from Playboy inc., as well as several makers of small household appliances. Or maybe that's just me..
It's good work, but the nothing like photos by TeslaBoy · 2012-10-20 14:14 · Score: 1

The title is really inaccurate. I was at this conference and talked to Kamitani about it. He was able to determine whether the dreams we have when entering sleep (not those we have in deep sleep) contained faces, places, or inanimate objects. Significantly above chance levels. It's good work, but it's nothing like reconstructing a photo of what someone was dreaming. Kamitani also tried to explicitly do this, but so far, it's not possible. The linked article makes all of this really clear.