I’m currently reading a book called, Mind Wide Open. I recently found out that in neuroscience our actions and our emotions are actually two separate units or modules to be precise. Often after our action(s), our emotions are a delayed response since most emotions are made out of chemicals being released in our bloodstream especially when we are stressed out or running high on our adrenaline and/or endorphins (brain’s natural painkiller); hence, we still experience the emotions even after the action(s) has happened for few minutes.
My thought of the relationship with nightmares and night terrors has come up. Often I remember waking up sweating and paralyzed with my own fear even though the nightmare is no longer haunting me. I recall few experiences where I get so traumatized by my nightmare that I cannot get rid of my fear for several minutes or even up to few hours. My memory would play that nightmare vividly all over again and again, paralyzing myself further in my own fear even if I try to stop thinking about it. Frequently, I get phobia(s) from nightmare that lasts from a week to few years (most likely to happen with younger kids who have the wildest imagination) where I cannot remember why until something sparkles my memory. It is almost as if I remember my own fear longer than my actual event.
I soon find out, that with an amnesiac patient who can never remember her regular doctor, her doctor always have to do his meeting every day with a handshake and introduce himself again. One day, he decides to conceal a thumbtack on his palm. He enters and does his regular greetings with his handshake (no, he wasn’t being mean). The next day, he returns. That patient stares at him blankly as usual – no recall of him – until he extends his arm to handshake. She absolutely refuses to handshake! Yet she can’t explain why. She doesn’t remember anything, but it is as if she actually remembers her own fears. How do you explain that?
It is being suggested that we have two different kinds of memory mode: conscious and unconscious. When a fearing situation is involved, the sensory data passes through cortex (conscious center) and through an underground inference called Amygdala (unconscious center). Amygdala reacts much quicker than cortex and is part of our survival skills. It also is a relaying center. If somebody removes it, the learning progress stops. However, the memories that are stored in Amygdala are rather more like a sketch than the memories in cortex. Its job is to remember quickly and act quickly. We are never aware of its progress and often cortex’s memories disappear quicker before Amygdala’s memories. So when conscious memories disappear, the fears remain to exist. Hence the name, “Phobias.” So with this amnesiac patient, her unconscious memories of that thumbtack stops herself from shaking with her doctor even though she doesn’t know why at all.
Again, Amygdala only sketches the memories. Say, if you see a purple dragon with vibrant green spots slithering toward you. Your body receives an alarming message from your unconscious Amygdala full with adrenaline. It stores as a figure of dragon as a rough sketch, but none of any colors or details. Over time, Amygdala sends this memory to your cortex center again and again, paralyzing you in your own fears (it is brain’s natural way to confront the bad memories) or… it doesn’t send anything to your cortex center. Nonetheless, when you see something similar to dragon’s shape, you get paralyzed in fears even though you don’t know why. It is how Amygdala remembers. It is a way to keep us safe even though about 99% of the time Amygdala misinterprets and sends us into an unnecessary panic position. Sometimes it becomes so severe from a traumatic event that sends a person into an alarmed state every time he hears a truck backfiring, thinking that it is a plane shooting; hence, the name of post traumatic stress disorder.
So I conclude with my best hunch that with night terrors it is a disorder where Amygdala goes into an overload mode while this person is sound asleep whereas his body is being sent in a total stress mode. Screaming, sobbing, being violent, mumbling about his bad nightmare or his experience, and sweating exceedingly as if his life is about to expire by a life-threatening event, only to be awake in the morning with absolute no recall. Else, how do you explain that amnesiac effect with night terrors? When it works properly, Amygdala relays information to cortex, our conscious memory center; thus, the name of nightmares… something we experience once in a while in our sleep.
I can be completely wrong, but I like forming some theories and hunches while I read some neurology and/or psychology books or experiment with my own mind. It helps me to learn way more. Apparently, Amygdala might play a big role to our nightmares and night terrors. Do you concur or not?
I’d love to hear your comments on that. 
Dm7
P.S. Please keep in mind, I have only read 70 pages of Mind Wide Open. I still have about 2/3 of this book to go. I still have a lot to learn. 
P.S.S. To Mods: I’m not certain if this post belongs in Beyond Dreaming; however, I find it the closest thing to my subject. If I’m wrong, please feel free to move it around.
, like you were saying… heh