Abstract
Dreams, generated by the sleeping brain, are one of the most common and fascinating phenomena of human mind. But the role and mechanism of dreaming remain largely unknown. This paper provided the phenomenon showing that the brain is trying, but always failing, to correctly process information in the sleeping state. We proposed that dreams are the product of the brain retaining partial activity and functioning during sleep, and the bizarre nature of dreams is attributed to the sleeping brain’s confusion in information processing. Hence dreams can be presented as a kind of mental disorder that occurs in healthy brain during sleep. Furthermore, clues suggest that mental states similar to dreams may occur in waking brain, which can result in many kinds of mental illnesses.
Key words: dream; sleep; consciousness; mental disorder