Research into brain physiology and dream psychology have helped to illuminate the biological purposes and processes of dreaming. Physical and functional characteristics shared by dreaming and television include the perception of visual and auditory images, operation in a binary mode, and the encoding of visual information. Research is needed in the following areas: the effects of heavy television viewing on the brain's internal scanning mechanism or firing pattern; the effect of exposure to television's heavily saturated, luminous colors on the colors experienced in dreams; the relationship between experiences in dreaming and viewing by comparing electroencephalographic recordings during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and during television viewing; the capability of television viewing to stimulate a mental state between waking and dreaming; the relationship between perceptions in dreams and on television and its implications for visual literacy; comparison of dream content to television content; the formulaic, cyclical nature of dreaming and of television programing; and the possibility that television is capable of bypassing conscious processing and implanting images directly into the unconscious. (DF)