Animals seem to dream, and studies show that animals' brains follow the same series of sleeping states as ours do, this is the researchers know what animals are dreaming about.Animals have complex dreams and are able to retain and recall long sequences of events while they are asleep, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)researchers report. `No one knew for certain that animals dreamed the way we do, which can involve replaying events or at least components of events that occurred while we were awake,`said Matthew Wilson of MIT's Center for Learning and Memory. `We looked at the firing patterns of a collection of individual cells to determine the content of rats' dreams. We know that they are in fact dreaming and their dreams are connected to actual experiences.`Wilson says that this new ability to eavesdrop on the sleeping brain provides a basis for analyzing the content of dream states. It could be a valuable tool in treating memory disorders such as amnesia or Alzheimer's disease, or it may help devise ways for people to learn and memorize more effectively.Why do animals dream about one experience and not another?This also raises questions about long-held assumptions about animals' thought processes. Only a handful of species — among them chimps and dolphins — were thought to have any ability at all to recall and evaluate detailed sequences of events after they occurred. Wilson points out that `dreams are the ultimate off-line experience. This work demonstrates that animals are capable of re-evaluating their experiences when they are not in the midst of them.`
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