Threat 21)Simulation Theory
模拟威胁理论
This clever evolutionary theory holds that dreaming serves a biologically adaptive function because it allowed our ancestors to simulate problem-solving strategies for genuine, waking life threats. Antonio Zadra, Sophie Desjardins, and Eric Marcotte of the University of Montreal neatly summarize the central argument of the theory this way: “By giving rise to a full-scale22)hallucinatory world of subjective experience during sleep, the dream production mechanism provides an ideal and safe environment for such sustained practice by selecting threatening waking events and simulating them repeatedly in various combinations.”
这种巧妙的进化理论认为做梦起着一种生物适应性功能，因为在梦境中我们的祖先可以模拟解决难题的策略，来应对清醒时现实世界的威胁。蒙特利尔大学的安东尼奥·扎多拉、索菲·德斯贾汀，以及埃里克·马科特简要地总结了这个理论的核心论点：“在睡觉时，人类大脑的做梦机制会选择人们清醒时的威胁性事件以各种组合形式反复模拟呈现梦中，透过睡梦中构筑的一个有关主观体验的完全虚幻的世界，为反复练习应对威胁提供理想的安全环境。”
Costly Signaling Theory
高代价炫耀理论
Boston University neuroscientist Patrick McNamara's theory draws from the well-known “23)handicapping principle” in evolutionary biology, where some organisms have been observed to display behavioral traits or physical characteristics that seem 24)ostensibly to disadvantage them but in fact simply reflect their genetic value. The classic example of this is “25)stotting” behavior in healthy young gazelles, where these animals jump up and down in front of a 26)predatory leopard rather than immediately run away. Stotting is a “costly signal,” but it works, because the leopards take this stotting display as evidence that this particular gazelle is so healthy and fit that it can afford to handicap itself and is therefore unlikely to be an easy target. McNamara argues that dreaming can best be understood also as a type of costly signal. He points out that REM sleep is associated with increased 27)mortality, particularly with respect to the irregular activity of the 28)cardiovascular system.
波士顿大学神经学家帕特里克·麦克纳马拉的理论来源于生物进化学上的著名原理“不利条件原理”，该原理指出，根据观察表明有些生物体所展现的行为特点或者生理特征表面上似乎对自身不利，但是实际上直接显示了他们的基因价值。最经典的例子就是年轻健康羚羊的“跳跃”行为：在看到凶猛的猎豹时，羚羊会上下跳跃，而不是赶紧逃走。这种跳跃就是一种“高代价的炫耀”，但是这种行为颇有效果，因为猎豹把这种跳跃看成是健硕的证明，这种不惜陷自己于险境的行为说明这只羚羊健康而壮硕，所以很难被逮住。麦克纳马拉认为，做梦也最适宜被理解为一种高代价炫耀。他指出，眼球快速运动睡眠阶段与死亡风险的增加息息相关，尤其考虑到在这个阶段心血管系统的不规则运动更是如此。
Dreaming as Problem-Solving
做梦试练解题
Barrett's preferred evolutionary explanation for dreaming, and the one she's best known for, is that29)dreamscapes provided our ancestors (and therefore us) with a sort of creative 30)canvas for solving real-world problems. In support of this, Barrett describes the work of Stanford University psychologist William Dement, who in the early 1970s instructed hundreds of undergraduate students to work on a set of challenging 31)brainteasers before bedtime, so that they'd fall asleep with the problems still on their mind. For example, “The letters O, T, T, F, F…form the beginnings of an infinite sequence. Find a simple rule for determining any or all successive letters.” [The correct sequence is the first letter of each number, so the next one would be “S” for “six.”] One participant who went to bed frustrated by this brainteaser dreamed:
巴雷特赞成用进化论来解释做梦，而她最为著名的理论是梦境为我们的祖先（和我们）提供一个创造性空间来解决现实世界中的难题。为了证明这个观点，巴雷特描述了斯坦福大学心理学家威廉·德门特的一项实验，在二十世纪七十年代早期，德门特要求数百名大学生在睡前做一套极具挑战性的难题，因此他们入睡时问题依然留在脑海中。例如，“一个开头为‘O’、‘T’、‘T’、‘F’、‘F’……的无穷序列，找出一个简单规律来断定序列里部分或所有连续字母。”（正确的序列是每个数字的英文首字母，所以下一个字母应该为数字“6”的英文首字母“S”。）其中一个参加该实验的学生睡觉前对这道题苦思冥想而不得其解，他当晚做了这么一个梦：
I was walking down the hall of an art gallery. I began to count the paintings—one, two, three, four, five. But as I came to the sixth and seventh, the paintings had been ripped from their frames! I stared at the empty frames with a peculiar feeling that some mystery was about to be solved. Suddenly I realized that the sixth and seventh spaces were the solution to the problem.
我走在一个画廊的大厅里。我开始数那些画作——一，二，三，四，五。当我数到第六和第七幅画时，发现那些画被人从画框里撕了下来！我望着空荡荡的画框，感觉到一些谜团正要被解开。突然，我意识到第六和第七个空位就是这道题的答案。
Personally, I think each of these major evolutionary theories of dreaming has some currency. And speaking of bizarre and surreal, there's of course the curious case of 32)erotic dreams. And the exploration still has a long way to go.
我个人认为，上述关于做梦的主要进化理论都各有价值。说到梦境的怪异和超现实，当然还包括了那些奇怪的绮梦，只能说梦境探索之路依然漫长。
