--- title: Do animals dream? Twitching dogs, replaying rats and colour-changing… — how Mova does on the tests · Biology description: Lesson 391 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 5 of 12 tests right, exam 1 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/) / 391 # Do animals dream? Twitching dogs, replaying rats and colour-changing octopuses **Tests:** 5 of 12 right · **Exam:** 1 of 4 right · **Kind:** ★ · **Understood:** 10 of 16 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72` Lesson 391 of the biology course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/). Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/). ### Test 1 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t1} «my dog's chasing rabbits in his sleep, he told me lol» What is the honest answer? - **1.** He is wide awake and just pretending to be asleep — score 3 - **2.** Dogs never dream, they are just scratching an itch — score -1 - **3.** Dogs really can tell their owners what they dreamed about, by barking — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 - **4.** He may be dreaming, but we can only guess what about — **✓ the right answer** · score 2 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 237, line 5: «Dogs make a «guilty» face when scolded even if they did nothing wrong, so the look is probably a way to calm an angry owner, not real guilt.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «angry owner» (+3); the same doer «dogs» (+1); a different action (counts against) (+1). The right option, 4, scored 2. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t1/) ### Test 2 · ★ · right ✓ {#t2} «cats don't dream, they're just thick and twitchy» What is the best correction? - **1.** Right, cats have no sleep stages at all, they just doze lightly all day — score 3 - **2.** Cats have the same busy dreaming stage of sleep as people — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5 - **3.** Cats only ever dream when they are wide awake — score 2 - **4.** Right, only dogs can dream and cats are just twitchy — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 111, line 3: «Feeding is also a job for the brain: gorillas find their food scattered in the grass, apes get big pieces to hold and bite, and big cats even have days with no…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same doer «big cats» (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t2/) ### Test 3 · ★ · right ✓ {#t3} What would happen if a sleeping cat's brain did not stop its body during dreaming sleep? - **1.** It might jump up and act out its dream, chasing things that are not there — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 10 - **2.** Nothing at all would change, because cats never move when asleep — score 1 - **3.** It would sleep more quietly and more deeply than it ever had before — score 1 - **4.** It would stop dreaming at once and never dream again — score 7 **Why:** It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 391, line 6: «During this busy sleep a part of the brain stops the body acting out the dream, so a sleeping dog or cat only twitches, paddles or makes small sounds.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «act out» (+6); the same thing acted on «dream» (+3); a different doer (counts against) (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t3/) ### Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t4} Mia reckons that sleep is just wasted time for the brain. Which finding shows she is wrong? - **1.** Rats can learn their way round mazes only in the dark — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Sleeping rats replayed the maze they had learned that day — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** Rats forget everything they learned as soon as they sleep — no support - **4.** Rats only ever go to sleep when they are bored — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t4/) ### Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t5} «spiders dream, it's proven now» What is the most accurate reply? - **1.** Yes, and spiders dream far more than any other animal — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Yes, it is fully proven, because the spiders acted out their dreams for the scientists — no support - **3.** No, spiders never rest at all, so they cannot possibly dream — no support - **4.** Jumping spiders showed dream-like eye movements, but whether they dream is still open — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t5/) ### Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t6} In a cartoon, an octopus sleeps in a little bed with a nightcap and a smile. What do real octopuses do in active sleep? - **1.** Close their eyes with long eyelashes — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Snore loudly through all eight arms — no support - **3.** Sleep upside down inside empty shells — no support - **4.** Flash colours and twitch their arms — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t6/) ### Test 7 · ★ · right ✓ {#t7} A sleeping octopus suddenly shows the same colours it shows when hunting. What might this mean? - **1.** It has definitely caught a crab in its sleep and is eating it right now in the dark — score 3 - **2.** It is really awake and just showing off its colours — score 3 - **3.** It is very ill and needs to see a vet straight away — score 2 - **4.** Some scientists think it might be a bit like dreaming, but it is argued — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 **Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 51, line 11: «An octopus has thousands of colour cells and can raise bumps on its skin to copy rocks and weed in under a second, even though scientists think it cannot see c…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «think» (+4); the same doer «scientists» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t7/) ### Test 8 · ★ · right ✓ {#t8} «went to bed at 10, up at 7, how many sleep cycles roughly» About how many cycles of an hour and a half fit in 9 hours? - **1.** About six — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** About nine — no support - **3.** About twelve — no support - **4.** About two — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t8/) ### Test 9 · ★ · right ✓ {#t9} «i never dream, never ever» What is most likely true? - **1.** You probably dream every night but forget your dreams — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 4 - **2.** Only old people have dreams, so you will dream later — score 0 - **3.** You are right, because some people never sleep at all — no support - **4.** Dreams only happen to people when they are ill — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 4, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 391, line 15: «Most people dream every night even if they forget their dreams, and you remember a dream best if you wake in the middle of it.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «forget» (+3); the same thing acted on «dreams» (+1); a different doer (counts against) (+1). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t9/) ### Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t10} Count them: 3 dogs are sleeping and twitching in a basket. How many legs could be paddling? - **1.** 6 — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** 16 — no support - **3.** 9 — no support - **4.** 12 — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t10/) ### Test 11 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t11} Why would scientists study lizards and the platypus to learn about our own sleep? - **1.** Lizards are much easier to wake up than people — **← Mova's choice** · score 3 - **2.** The platypus is the closest living relative of human beings — no support - **3.** Lizards sleep in exactly the same way as human teenagers do — score 2 - **4.** Old kinds of animals may show how sleep stages began long ago — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 3, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 76, line 9: «Survivors included many small mammals, birds, crocodiles, turtles, frogs, snakes and lizards, which needed less food, could hide, and ate seeds, insects or rot…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «lizards» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t11/) ### Test 12 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t12} «my brother shouted at the dog and poked it while it was twitching, it snapped at him» Why did that happen? - **1.** The dog was never asleep at all, it was just waiting — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 - **2.** The dog was dreaming about biting him and did it for real — score 3 - **3.** Dogs hate people all the time and snap whenever they can — score 4 - **4.** A dog startled out of deep sleep may snap without meaning to — **✓ the right answer** · score 4 **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 391, line 1: «Your dog is fast asleep on the rug, but its paws are paddling, its lips twitch and it gives tiny muffled woofs. It looks as if it is running somewhere in its s…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «dog» (+2); the same property (+1); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (+1). The right option, 4, scored 4. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/t12/) ### Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓ {#e1} Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the present state of knowledge regarding dreaming in non-human animals? - **1.** It has been conclusively demonstrated by experiment that all animals dream in precisely the same manner as human beings — score 3 - **2.** It has been conclusively demonstrated that no animal other than man dreams — no support - **3.** Dreaming has been observed exclusively in reptiles and in no other class of animal — no support - **4.** Many animals exhibit a sleep stage associated with dreaming, but whether they dream cannot at present be ascertained — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5 **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 391, line 3: «Dogs, cats, rats and birds have this busy stage too, and scientists have even watched sleeping rats replay a maze in their brains. But we cannot ask an animal…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: a different action (counts against) (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/e1/) ### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2} Identify the principal reason for which a sleeping domestic cat merely twitches during the stage of sleep associated with dreaming. - **1.** The cat is in fact fully awake throughout that stage — no support - **2.** A region of the brain inhibits the movement of the body during that stage — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** The muscles of the cat are wholly and permanently paralysed throughout all stages of sleep — no support - **4.** The cat possesses no dreaming stage of sleep whatsoever — **← Mova's choice** · score 4 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 391, line 5: «Dogs and cats have the same sleep stages as people, including the busy stage linked to dreaming, when the brain is active and the eyes move under the lids.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «same sleep stages» (+3); the same doer «dogs» (+1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/e2/) ### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3} It is given that a human being passes through sleep cycles each of approximately one and a half hours. Ascertain the approximate number of dreaming stages in one night of normal sleep. - **1.** One — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Fifteen — no support - **3.** None whatsoever — no support - **4.** Four or five — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/e3/) ### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4} Select the response consistent with the established findings in respect of rats which had previously traversed a maze. - **1.** All memory of the maze was erased during the subsequent sleep — no support - **2.** No brain activity whatsoever was recorded during sleep — no support - **3.** Patterns of brain activity recorded during the maze were observed again during subsequent sleep — **✓ the right answer** · score 2 - **4.** The rats were observed to run the entire maze physically whilst remaining asleep throughout — **← Mova's choice** · score 4 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 95, line 2: «The dim light is red, because many night animals cannot see red well, so you can watch them without them feeling watched.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «animals» (+3); the same action «watch» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 2. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/e4/) - ← previous: [390. How animals sleep: half-asleep dolphins, standin…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/390-how-animals-sleep-half-asleep-dolphins-standing-horses-short-sleeping-giraffes-and-birds-that-nap-in-the-air/) - next →: [392. Poisonous plants to stay away from: berries, fox…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/392-poisonous-plants-to-stay-away-from-berries-foxglove-yew-and-nightshade/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/)