A fuller explanation of the preceding: As an example of Robin’s point, “I can imagine that sometimes our brains just fail to make use of this distinction,” the reason that some people don’t know when they’re dreaming is that that are unable, at that time, to pay attention to all the aspects of their experience; otherwise they would be able to easily distinguish their state from the state of being awake, because the two states are very different, even subjectively. I pay attention to these aspects even while dreaming, and so I recognize that I’m dreaming.
A fuller explanation of the preceding: As an example of Robin’s point, “I can imagine that sometimes our brains just fail to make use of this distinction,” the reason that some people don’t know when they’re dreaming is that that are unable, at that time, to pay attention to all the aspects of their experience; otherwise they would be able to easily distinguish their state from the state of being awake, because the two states are very different, even subjectively. I pay attention to these aspects even while dreaming, and so I recognize that I’m dreaming.