What hypothesis suggests that dreams are the brains attempt to make sense of the random firing of brain cells during REM sleep?

The hypothesis that suggests dreams are the brain's attempt to make sense of the random firing of brain cells during REM sleep is known as the Activation-Synthesis Theory. Proposed by researchers Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley in 1977, this theory posits that dreams result from the brain interpreting and synthesizing the spontaneous neural activity occurring during REM sleep. As a result, the brain creates narratives or stories based on these random signals, leading to the vivid and often nonsensical nature of dreams.