Unlocking the mystery of dreams
Read Unlocking the mystery of dreams and check the IELTS Reading answers. Thousands of years ago, dreams were seen as messages from the gods, and in many cultures, they are still considered prophetic, foretelling things to come. In ancient Greece, sick people slept at the temples of Asclepius, the…
Passage preview
Thousands of years ago, dreams were seen as messages from the gods, and in many cultures, they are still considered prophetic, foretelling things to come. In ancient Greece, sick people slept at the temples of Asclepius, the god of medicine, in order to receive healing dreams. Modern dream science really begins at the end of the 19th century with Sigmund Freud, who theorized that dreams were the expression of unconscious desires often from childhood. He believed that exploring these hidden emotions through analysis could help cure mental illness. After Freud, the most important event in dream science was the discovery in the early 1950s of a phase of sleep characterized by intense brain activity and rapid eye movement (REM).
Vocabulary from this passage
9 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- coherent story line noun phrase
A story whose ideas and events connect clearly and make sense.
In the passage:
Q34 asks about a "lack of a clear narrative"; paragraph E says dreams "lack a coherent story line".
Synonyms: clear plot, logical narrative
- diffuse verb
To make strong feelings less intense, often by letting them out safely.
In the passage:
Q38 says "calming strong feelings"; paragraph G says dreaming helps "diffuse powerful emotions", not spread them.
Synonyms: calm, ease
Opposites: intensify
- enhance performance verb phrase
To improve how well someone does a task, especially in sport or work.
In the passage:
"dreaming about physical tasks, like a gymnast's floor routine, enhances performance": practice in dreams helps.
Synonyms: improve results, boost performance
Opposites: impair performance
- find inspiration in verb phrase
To get new ideas or creative energy from something.
In the passage:
"painters like Jasper Johns and Salvador Dali found inspiration in their dreams": a reusable phrase for Writing about creativity.
Synonyms: draw inspiration from, be inspired by
- insignificant adjective
Too small or unimportant to have any real meaning or effect.
In the passage:
Q37 says "meaningless pictures"; paragraph C says "insignificant night-time images created by the brain".
Synonyms: meaningless, trivial
Opposites: significant
- lend support to verb phrase
To give evidence or backing that makes an idea more believable.
In the passage:
Q31 says "strengthened Freud's theory"; paragraph D says tools "might actually lend new support to Freud's ideas".
Synonyms: strengthen, back up
Opposites: undermine
- physiological adjective
Relating to the normal functions of living bodies.
In the passage:
"REM may have evolved for physiological reasons"; Q40 words it as "an essential body function".
Synonyms: bodily, biological
Opposites: psychological
- prophetic adjective
Describing something that tells, or seems to tell, what will happen in the future.
In the passage:
Q32's option says dreams "predicted future events"; paragraph A says they are "considered prophetic, foretelling things to come".
Synonyms: predicted future events, foretelling
- the point of noun phrase
The purpose or use of an activity; the reason for doing it.
In the passage:
Q28 asks for "a concern about the usefulness"; paragraph C asks "what is the point of studying them?"
Synonyms: usefulness, the purpose of
Answers with explanations
- 27. F
Scan for artists. Paragraph F names the painters **Jasper Johns and Salvador Dali**, who **found inspiration in their dreams**, and that is the **significance of dreams on artists' work**.
- 28. C
A **concern about usefulness** is a worry that something may be pointless. Paragraph C ends with a question: if dreams are **insignificant** images, **what is the point of studying them?** That doubt about dream research matches the item.
- 29. B
The item asks about **types of living creatures** with REM sleep. Paragraph B says REM is **universal – at least in mammals and even birds**, and adds that no cold-blooded animal is known to have it. So the information is in paragraph B.
- 30. G
**Psychological well-being** is paraphrased by **mental-health** and by being **less likely to remain depressed**. In paragraph G, Cartwright's research on divorced men and women links vivid dreams with strong story lines to better mental health.
- 31. D
Look for **modern research tools**: fMRI and PET in paragraph D. Solms argues they might **lend new support to Freud's ideas**, because the brain areas most active in dreaming control emotion. **Lend support to** is the item's **strengthened**.
- 32. D
The question is about **ancient times**, so go to the start of paragraph A. Dreams were **considered prophetic, foretelling things to come**, which is **predicted future events**. The option about messages **sent to** the gods reverses the text, where messages come **from** the gods.
- 33. C
Find **REM sleep** in paragraph B. Siegel says it **heats up the brain**, which is the option about the brain's temperature **increasing**. The option about the brain behaving differently fails because the EEG showed that brain activity in REM **resembled** that of the awake brain.
- 34. C
Paragraph E gives the explanation: the **prefrontal cortex**, **associated with logical thinking**, is **much less active** in REM. That **could explain** why dreams **lack a coherent story line**, so the part of the brain in control of reasoning is less involved. Dreaming in non-REM sleep is mentioned, but it is not offered as the reason.
- 35. A
Look for **solutions to difficult situations**, which the text words as **solve tricky problems**. Nofzinger thinks the **anterior cingulate cortex**, which detects inconsistencies, could be the reason. The limbic system is about emotion, and the prefrontal cortex is **much less active**.
- 36. C
**Technology** matches **PET and fMRI**, and **areas of the brain that deal with feelings** matches the **limbic system, which controls our emotions**. Paragraph D presents this as support for the ideas of **Solms**, who argues the link between dreaming and emotion.
- 37. B
**Meaningless pictures created by the brain** matches **insignificant night-time images created by the brain**, and **essentially random** supports it. This is the theory of Hobson and his colleague McCarley, the **activation-synthesis hypothesis**, so both names together are the answer.
- 38. G
**Calming strong feelings** is the paraphrase of **diffuse powerful emotions**. Cartwright **thinks** dreaming does this and calls it **a mental-health activity**. Hill also talks about emotions, but she says dream imagery helps therapists **uncover** hidden feelings, not calm them.
- 39. F
**Show us unexpected things about ourselves** is paraphrased by **reveal stuff about you that you didn't know was there**. Hill says this and compares dreams to a **back door** into a patient's thinking. Cartwright and Barrett also discuss dreams, but neither says dreams reveal hidden things about the dreamer.
- 40. A
**Maintaining an essential body function** matches **filling a basic physiological function**. Siegel says dreams are **a kind of a side effect, or by-product** of REM sleep, which is the item's **may be a result of**.