Final answer:
Dreams can reflect significant life events and thoughts during waking hours, as suggested by Rosalind Cartwright, or they may simply be our brain's way of making sense of neural activity during REM sleep, as per Alan Hobson's activation-synthesis theory. While there's debate on the direct impact of dreams on waking actions, evidence supports a correlation that may inspire waking actions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The relationship between people's dreams and their actions when awake is a subject of debate among researchers. The sleep and dreaming researcher Rosalind Cartwright suggests that dreams mirror important life events, supporting the idea that there can be a correlation between dream content and waking thoughts. However, other theories, such as the activation-synthesis theory developed by neuroscientist Alan Hobson, argue that dreams are our brain's attempt to make sense of random neural activity during REM sleep, implying they may not directly inform our actions while awake.
Despite differences in theories, research indicates that dreaming can help process daily stimuli and convert experiences into long-term memories, as part of biological necessity for brain health. Whether through reflection of waking concerns or as a platform for our brain's synthesis work, dreams can be influenced by our waking life and potentially influence it as well, thus suggesting that answer option (c) 'People may be inspired by their dreams, leading to specific actions' is most supported by the provided information.