if people with pets look closely at the way cats and dogs are asleep, they will probably see some signs that look like dreams: sleeping animals may kick their legs, may wagging their tails, or may shout loudly. So, do these animals really dream like humans?

in a nutshell, the answer to this question is: it's possible, but it's still uncertain.

many mammals have similar brain structures and sleep patterns to humans, and they also experience rapid eye movement sleep (REM) in humans, which is closely related to dreams, so it is reasonable for them to dream.

and there are some studies that suggest that animals are probably dreaming. For example, one of the classic experiments came from neuroscientist Michel Jouvet. In his experiments, he found that if specific structures in the cat's pons were destroyed, the inhibition of body movement during sleep would be relieved. When such an experimental cat is asleep, it can be observed raising its head and making various movements like staring at an object or preparing to hunt. These actions suggest that cats should "see" certain images in their sleep, just like humans do in dreams.

(this is an illustration from Michel Jouvet's review of cat dreams. I'd like to share it purely because of my unique painting style. )

and in the study of laboratory mice, scientists have also reported that it is easy to associate people with "thinking every day and having dreams at night." In this study, implanted microelectrodes were used to record electrophysiological activity in the hippocampus of rats during training during the day and during sleep at night. During the day, the rats were trained to walk round tracks to get food, and after that, the brain activity of the sleeping rats in the REM phase showed a very similar pattern to that of the daytime "maze". It seems that the daytime task scenes will be played back in the rats'"dreams".

since there is some research evidence, why is it that animals are not sure that they can dream? In fact, the reason is that at present, the only accurate way to confirm the content of dreams cannot be used in other animals.

in neuroscience research, no matter the data of electrical signals or MRI scans, they can not directly and accurately correspond to dreams. If you want to know if a person had a dream and what the content is, the only reliable way is to wake up ta during REM sleep and ask ta directly what he can recall. However, we can't communicate with experimental animals in language. As a result, scientists cannot directly prove that animals really dream like humans.

reference to this article:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150905-animals-sleep-science-dreaming-cats-brains/

http://news.mit.edu/2001/dreams-0131

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