A research study released on Tuesday has revealed that certain nerve cells may assist people "see" dreams while asleep.

The research study published in Nature Communications was conducted with the help of persons who are being treated for epilepsy. Several probes were inserted into the brains of the human subjects. Each probe was used to "listen" to its assigned medial temporal lobe or MTL nerve cell.

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The MTL is a particular section in the human brain that processes visual data.

The most obvious sign that a sleeping person is dreaming is when his/her eyelid flutters rapidly. This is the state known as the Rapid Eye Movement or REM. It is the only sign that your mind is actively experiencing a dream even though your physical body is at rest.

Researchers observed that MTL neurons react to the way humans make eye movement in their alert state. These cells also react the same way when one is in a state of heavy sleep; REM is the state where dreams reportedly occur. 

The researchers deduced that many of the cells being monitored were immediately activated as soon as the sleeper's eye moved. Neuroscientists concluded that these events occur when neurons are visualizing pictures projected by the subject's dreams.

They compared the fluttering of the sleeper's eyes to a camera taking a picture of the dream.

The study only focused on the capacity of neuron cells to "see" dreams and are yet to determine the reaction of the cells to various images in dreams. This is still quite a feat nonetheless.

Even today, the reason why people dream has confounded many scientists. Sigmund Freud theorized that dreams may help humans sleep by letting them play their fantasies or ambitions in their mind.

Tagsdream study, REM, rapid eye movement, dream theory, mtl, medial temporal lobe, brain neuron cells