Agencies-Gaza post
Why do we move our eyes during a dream?
A new scientific study uncovered the mystery since the 1950s behind the movement of the eyes during dreams, shedding light on what happens when we dream, and how our imagination works.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and published the day before yesterday, Thursday, in the journal “Science Alert”, indicates that “when our eyes move during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, we stare at objects in the dream world created by our brains.”
REM sleep, named after the rapid eye movements associated with it, has been defined since the 1950s as the stage of sleep when dreams occur, but the purpose of eye movements has remained the subject of much mystery and controversy.
Study author Massimo Scanziani says: “We have demonstrated in our study that eye movements during sleep are not random, but coordinate with what is happening in the virtual dream world of the mouse.”
He added, “The study gives us a glimpse into the cognitive processes taking place in the sleeping brain, while at the same time solving a mystery that has intrigued scientists for decades.”
To reach the results, Scanziani and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, Utah Senzai, used advanced technology that helped them look at the “head orientation” cells inside the brains of mice, which also experience rapid eye movement sleep, and these cells act like a compass, Its activity shows the researchers the direction in which the mouse sees itself as heading somewhere.
The scientific team simultaneously recorded data from these cells about the directions of the mouse’s head while observing its eye movements, and when they compared them, they found that the direction of the mouse’s eye movements and the internal compass of the mouse were precisely aligned during REM sleep, just as it happens when the young animal is awake and moving.
