Identifying Questions and Hypotheses

The scientific study that I chose was an experiment about dreaming. The question of the experiment was whether or not there is a purpose to dreaming or if it is merely electrical brain impulses. Their hypothesis was that dreams don't actually mean anything, and that they are simply electrical brain impulses that pull random thoughts and imagery from our memories. If previous studies have shown that people are more likely to remember their dreams when woken directly from REM sleep, then dreams should just be electrical impulses in the brain. This hypothesis was based on the theory of a prominent neurobiological theory of dreaming called the "activation synthesis hypothesis". The experiment was run by the Italian Research Team and they invited sixty five students to sleep in their research laboratory for two nights. During the first night, the students were left to sleep in sound proof and temperature controlled rooms. The scientists did not run any tests on the students and let them get used to their environment in the rooms. However, on the second night of the students sleeping in the laboratory, they measured the students' brain waves as they slept. While the students were sleeping they were frequently woken up to fill out diaries about whether they dreamed or not and if they did, whether they could remember the content of their dreams. The results showed that people who exhibited more low frequency theta waves in the frontal lobes are more likely to remember their dreams.

                       http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-behind-dreaming/