Michio Kaku on the Science of Dreams | Big Think

Michio Kaku on the Science of Dreams
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Michio Kaku describes how our prefrontal cortex disengages as we dream, thus suppressing the fact-checking component of our consciousness.
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MICHIO KAKU:

Dr. Michio Kaku is the co-founder of string field theory, and is one of the most widely recognized scientists in the world today. He has written 4 New York Times Best Sellers, is the science correspondent for CBS This Morning and has hosted numerous science specials for BBC-TV, the Discovery/Science Channel. His radio show broadcasts to 100 radio stations every week. Dr. Kaku holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York (CUNY), where he has taught for over 25 years. He has also been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, as well as New York University (NYU).
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TRANSCRIPT:

Michio Kaku: There’s a whole lore about dreaming. In fact, Sigmund Freud wrote a book called The Interpretation of Dreams which many people think is the foundation of psychoanalysis. Well scientists now have looked at Freudian psychology and the brain using all these modern techniques. And first of all we realize that perhaps Sigmund Freud wasn’t totally wrong. There are many textbooks which simply dismiss Freudian psychology calling it nuts. That is nothing but the sexual fantasies of a repressed Venetian scientist of the last century. But now we realize there’s more to it. First of all the unconscious mind. We can actually see the brain in motion and we realize that much of the activity is totally unconscious. Just like what Freud predicted.

And Freud also said there is the ego, the id and the superego, that we are in a constant battle with our desires and our conscious. And we see that now with brain scans. The ego is basically your prefrontal cortex. That is who you are. When you wonder where am I anyway. Well, you’re right there. You are sitting right behind your forehead. And then your desires. We see the pleasure center right there at the center of the brain. That is the libido. We see where the pleasure center is located. And then your conscience is right behind your eyes. The orbital frontal cortex right behind your eyes is where your conscience is. And so we actually see that in motion.

If you were to see a chocolate cake you would see these three parts of the brain going zippity back and forth like a ping pong ball because you’re constantly debating the pleasure of eating a chocolate cake versus how fat you’re gonna become and all the sugar and the calories that you don’t really need. So we see the beginnings of Freudian psychology coming out of brain scans. And now dreams. Freud had a whole collection of interpretation of dreams. Scientists have looked at and said, “Nonsense.” Now we understand the physiology of the dreaming process. And we realize that it comes at the back of the brain, the very primitive part of the brain and that certain parts of the brain are shut off when you dream. First of all your prefrontal cortex is basically shut off, it’s quiet. Your orbital frontal cortex that is your conscience is also shut off. But that part of the brain is your fact checker. The part of the brain that said, “Hmmm, that’s not right. Something’s wrong” is right behind your eyes. That’s shut off.

What is active when you dream is your amygdala. Now what does your amygdala govern? Fear and emotions. And so right then you know that when you dream the active part of the brain is not the fact checker, not the rational brain – it’s the emotional brain, the fearful brain that is active when you dream. And then there’s some superstition called lucid dreaming where you can actually control the direction of the dream. Well that superstition last year became science fact. At the Max Planck Institute in Germany they were able to show once and for all that lucid dreaming is testable, reproducible – it is real. And here’s how they did it. They took a person who was about to go to sleep and told them that when you dream clench your right fist and then clench your left fist. Now when you dream you are paralyzed. You cannot move when you dream.

Otherwise we’d be able to carry out all sorts of horrible things and destroy ourselves. So we are paralyzed when we dream. But when this person went into a dream state you can clearly see that the brain initiated orders to clench your right fist and your left fist. In other words, ...

[whereeveritgoes]

Lucid dreaming = Virtual reality (biology edition)

[-scieng-]

Whatever Michio Kaku talks about is interesting.

[leerman]

I find that sometimes when I'm having a good dream, I can feel myself waking up and I can resist it. I can even resume a dream sometimes after waking up for a short period of time.

[MrRizeAG]

Oh look, the reason everyone subbed to this channel. 

[luithedude]

I'm fascinated by how much of a knowledge theoretical physicist has, about psychology, phisiology, biology, anatomy, anthropology and all other sorts of science. Michio kaku is just genius, he can talk about anything

[layzeexluu]

I have lucid dreams very, very often. It's an amazing experience because it feels so real. Like a commenter below me said, its almost like virtual reality. I can tell myself id like to go to my childhood home or see certain family members.

[lyleblue]

Brain science and space science are my favorite subjects ;u;

[shinjiprofile]

ive been using lucid dreaming as an escape to my horrid life, everyday i just try my best to survive the day then go back dreaming during my night. most of the time I consider that real life is the dream and dreaming is the real life, my biggest hopes are one day we can connect all lucid dreams online.

[AndrewKaylor]

I'm happy to be amongst those that can lucid dream.

[DionAndress]

Finally
scientific confirmation . I Have been a lucid dreamer since I was very young
(It doesn't happen all the time but when it does it is amazing) . whenever I
would ask someone if they have experienced such a thing they would say no.so I
learned to stop asking lol. the potential of harnessing this is huge :)

[LyraScotch]

For those of you who ever questioned lucid dreaming, lay your skepticism aside! Fascinating stuff. 

[lj]

Dr. Kaku, I've been watching and listening to you for years. At first just as a scientist, but I've learned that you are fascinating and a great teacher in many things. Thank you for continuing to share and teach and give through the years.

[samaleks]

I've been practicing lucid dreaming for years, it's amazing!

[laikamansabdar]

Its strange how my brain has this curiosity to know what's going on in the brain.

[supershorts]

dreams are just multi-verse memories when you think about it.

[danweikat]

This is amazing, I've been practicing lucid dreaming for about 3 years now and I know it's real, it's amazing to see the scientific explanation from my greatest hero in science, thank you Michio!

[MrIrocknusuck]

He hurt his right hand in a barfight. :D

[Knowledgeofliving]

Dr. Kaku is a huge legend. I do a lot of videos like the ones he does. I try to educate as many people as I can on all sorts of different topics. I love science <3

[CentrifugalSatzClock]

Now that was one of the more truly fun videos I have watched. I would like to see Michio take deeper steps in this realm and discuss the primary driver of the dream state, the release of DMT during this process.

There are also chemical states which enhance dreaming and ones which suppress dreaming. I think science is at the very early stages of understanding much of what goes on. I hope they continue their work.

[stefaniac]

I have been remembering my dreams every day since I was a child (I am in my late 40s) and I have been writing them down since childhood. I wake up tired every day because I am in amazing adventures in my dreams. They are often imbued with the classics (being late, being chased, being confused on what to do albeit feeling great pressure to complete a goal), but also filled with creative endeavor and solutions to my artistic hobbies or work. I did a sleep study but they only checked for sleep apnea, which resulted negative. I also dream of dead people giving me messages to their loved ones, and I dreamt of the future in a few occasions. And I talk and sleepwalk. Just to complete the picture. I have never met anyone like me.