[Ng Jing Kiat]

Ng Jing Kiat asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi there Naked Scientists,

I've a question for you: why when humans dream, even the short-sighted people see clearly without having their spectacles removed?

Thanks for your help!

What do you think?

[Bored chemist]

What I see in my dreams broadly agrees with what I see in the real world- the dreams are based on experience. Since I wear glasses all the time except in bed, my experience of the world is properly focussed and that's how I dream it.

[CliffordK]

The shortsighted individuals dream in hindsight...

As opposed to the foresighted people who get lost in dreams of the future.

[Don_1]

Totally unrelated to the question, I had a strange dream a couple of nights ago. In my dream I went to see a film and fell alseep! Yes, I fell alseep in a dream. What a weirdo!

[FuzzyUK]

Totally unrelated to the question, I had a strange dream a couple of nights ago. In my dream I went to see a film and fell alseep! Yes, I fell alseep in a dream. What a weirdo!

The inverse of a lucid dream?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream

[Ophiolite]

Totally unrelated to the question, I had a strange dream a couple of nights ago. In my dream I went to see a film and fell alseep! Yes, I fell alseep in a dream. What a weirdo!

I take it that it was a boring film.

[Don_1]

Totally unrelated to the question, I had a strange dream a couple of nights ago. In my dream I went to see a film and fell alseep! Yes, I fell alseep in a dream. What a weirdo!

I take it that it was a boring film.

How do I know? I slept all through it!

[Don_1]

Since we can't see other peoples dreams, I suppose we cannot know for sure just what or how the they 'see'.

I would guess that since dreams come from the subconscious mind, and whatever is stored there (in visual recollection terms), and that can only be that which has been stored during waking perception, what you 'see' in your dreams must be what you have seen while awake.

Your eyes are merely light receptors and glasses can be used to correct problems with the eye. It is the brain which converts the signals from the eye into what we 'see' and stores it in our memory. Whatever is recalled from our memory, during sleep, will be 'seen' as it was recorded.

[Daerana]

I'd believe that we all see in our dreams 'normally'.  But that is only normal for us.  I am shortsighted and right up until I was about ten I thought how I saw was how everyone saw the world.  Then, when I got glasses I couldn't believe how different everything looked.  Now, I rarely wear my glasses.  I just have something against wearing glasses... maybe I'm just not quite as sane as I should be.  But when I dream I'm not sure if it is out of focus or not... I probably don't wear my glasses enough to know for sure the difference.

[Seany]

Does anyone see clearly in their dreams?
I'm sure it's not focused. It's just a mix of pictures..
We can't really remember our dreams either, so I'm not sure we can even say that our images are clear in our dreams..