Where are the images and ideas from dreams located in the brain, and is there any way to capture them?梦中的画面与意思位于大脑的哪个部位？有没有办法去抓取？
—Derek Meier, Chicago
——Derek Meier, Chicago
Mark A. W. Andrews, director and professor of physiology at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., replies:
Mark A. W. Andrews, director and professor of physiology at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., replies:
The answer to the latter part of your question is simply, “No.” Although we have technology that can measure general brain activity, we have no method for assessing or capturing our individual thoughts and dreams.
对于第二个问题，很显然，答案是否定的。尽管现有的科技已经能够记录大脑的正常活动，但我们仍然无法探测或者抓取到每一个人的思想与梦境。
To evaluate our future potential to do so, it is important to understand which areas of the brain are associated with dreaming. Most dreams occur during the stage of sleep when slumberers start making rapid eye movements, called REM sleep. The imagery a sleeping brain concocts appears to originate in the reticular formation (RF), a diffuse, intricate collection of more than 100 networks of neurons arranged throughout the brain. The RF helps to regulate essential processes, including waking and sleeping cycles and cardiac function. The RF’s neural networks link up with the cerebral cortex, which regulates how we think and remember. But the widespread connections between the RF and the rest of the brain make dreams difficult to study.
为评估在未来这个想法的可行性，了解大脑中的哪一个部位与做梦相关是十分必要的。大部分的梦境产生在睡眠者的眼球开始快速移动的时候，这叫做快速动眼期（REM）。由沉睡中的大脑糅合出来的图像似乎产生于网状结构（RF）之中，PF是一个分散而复杂的集合，它在大脑中分布超过100个的神经网络。RF协助了了一些包括唤醒与沉睡的周期与心脏功能的过程。RF的神经网络与调节我们如何去思考与记忆的大脑皮层相连接。但是在RF与其余部分的大脑有着大量的关联，这让研究梦境变得很困难。
In addition to the RF, dreaming involves the limbic system, often referred to as the emotional brain. Areas of the visual cortex responsible for recognizing complex visual scenes as well as the anterior cingulate gyrus, which governs attention and motivation, are also active during REM sleep. Interestingly, regions of the frontal cortex involved in thought and judgment while we are awake remain relatively calm throughout REM sleep, possibly accounting for the bizarre and illogical content of some dreams.
除开RF之外，梦境牵涉到了了大脑边缘系统，这个经常被认为是情绪性大脑。视觉皮层部分负责识别复杂的视觉场景以及支配注意力与积极性的前扣带皮层活跃在快速动眼期（REM）。有趣的是，额叶皮质的区域当我们清醒的时候关联着思维与判断，而在整个快速动眼期，保持着相对的平静，这有可能是梦中出现一些奇幻且没逻辑的内容的原因。
Currently scientists are able to probe human brain activity in several ways. We can record brain waves using EEG. With PET scans and functional MRI, we can observe fluctuations in brain activity by measuring changes in blood flow and levels of nutrients.
目前，科学家能用一些方法探测到人类大脑的一些活动。我们能用脑电图（EEG）来记录脑波。有了PET扫描与MRI（核磁共振成像），我们可以观察到大脑活动的波动，通过测量血液流动与营养物等级的变化。
These established techniques are not powerful enough to document dreams, but a newer method may enable a breakthrough. Recently neuroscientists have implanted single electrodes in the cortex to record the activity of single neurons believed to be associated with a single thought or image. One day such implanted electrodes might let us log and play back our thoughts and dreams.
这些已成型的科技并不强大到足以记录梦境，但是一个新的方法可能会有所突破。最近神经学家将单电级植入大脑皮层，以便记录单一神经元的活动，单一神经元被认为与单个的 思想或者面画有联系。某一天这种植入电极可能会让我们记录与回放我们的思想和梦境。
