Thread: If you gain knowledge threw a lucid dream, would you remember it in the real world?

I wonder what would happen if you looked at a page with just words for no more than a second. You don't read the words, you just stare at it like a picture. Do you think your subconscious will have stored every word on that page?

Originally Posted by Firebat11

I wonder what would happen if you looked at a page with just words for no more than a second. You don't read the words, you just stare at it like a picture. Do you think your subconscious will have stored every word on that page?

Hmmmmm.... I dunno aye. Thats what I was thinking. Like, at school, I'm having some problems with my Algebra, and I've listened to everything my teacher has told me, it just wont go into my freaking brain.
So, I wonder if in my dream, I could practice it somehow, or go through all the information that I have been told, so that I can get the hang of it.
Back to your question though, I think less than a second isn't long enough, but I think that if you quickly scanned the whole page, just taking in a few key words and reading the words, but not really taking them in, (Like 10w/s) then, probably yea, your subconscious will probably have taken it in, although you would probably need to access that information reasonably quickly before your subconscious 'deletes' it.

Yeah, that does sound reasonable. I've found at random times doing math, pertinent information would pop up proving to be useful. But then again I don't know if that was the subconscious at work, or regular practice with math. Like a dream journal I've found writing things out stay with my long-term memory as opposed to trying to memorize it by looking at it.

Originally Posted by Firebat11

Yeah, that does sound reasonable. I've found at random times doing math, pertinent information would pop up proving to be useful. But then again I don't know if that was the subconscious at work, or regular practice with math. Like a dream journal I've found writing things out stay with my long-term memory as opposed to trying to memorize it by looking at it.

You should sleep after you try and learn something. Sleep, in particular REM sleep, helps consolidate newly formed memories making them more available for recall. I find that when I am studying for an exam I take quick naps whenever I feel tired and it helps me remember the meaning of whatever topic I am at work with (I study psychology, but I am sure it is the same for the natural sciences). This aspect of sleep is widely recognised in experimental psychology. Conclusion, if you try to hard you may ruin it, try sleeping on it before you read it again ^^.

Although the discussion is till open for actually gaining knowledge through dreams they certainly help consolidating what we already know. If you are to believe the stories of people (myself included) waking up with new found understandings and ideas, they do, but these reports haven't been as stringently controled as the memory experiments (to my knowledge at least).

Sometimes however I also find myself getting a brand new idea or angle at a topic although that wasn't even remotely connected to the theme of the dream.