(Redirected from Dreams)
A 'dream' is the experience of a sequence of images, like a movie with sounds, ideas, emotions, or other sensations during
sleep, especially
REM sleep.
The events of dreams are often impossible, or unlikely to occur, in physical reality: they are also outside the control of the dreamer. The exception to this is known as
lucid dreaming, in which dreamers realize that they are dreaming, and are sometimes capable of changing their dream
environment and controlling various aspects of the dream. The dream environment is often much more realistic in a lucid dream, and the
senses heightened.
Neurology of dreams
There is no universally agreed-upon biological definition of dreaming. General observation shows that dreams are strongly associated with
REM sleep. REM sleep is the state of sleep in which
brain activity is most like wakefulness, which is why many researchers believe this is when dreams are strongest, although it could also mean that this is a state from which dreams are most easily remembered. During a typical lifespan, a human spends a total of about six years dreaming
[1] (which is about 2 hours each night
[2]). It is unknown where in the brain dreams originate — if there is such a single location — or why dreams occur at all.
Discovery of REM
In 1953
Eugene Aserinsky discovered
REM sleep while working in the lab of his
PhD advisor. Aserinsky noticed that the sleepers' eyes fluttered beneath their closed eyelids, later using a
polygraph machine to record their
brain waves during these periods. In one session he awakened a subject who was crying out during REM and confirmed his suspicion that dreaming was occurring.
[3] In 1953 Aserinsky and his advisor published the ground-breaking study in
''Science''.
[4]
In 1976
J. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarly proposed a new theory that changed dream research, challenging the previously held
Freudian view of dreams as subconscious wishes to be interpreted. The
activation synthesis theory asserts that the sensory experiences are fabricated by the cortex as a means of interpreting
chaotic signals from the
pons. They propose that in REM sleep, the ascending
cholinergic PGO (ponto-geniculo-occipital) waves stimulate higher
midbrain and
forebrain cortical structures, producing rapid eye movements. The activated forebrain then synthesizes the dream out of this internally generated information. They assume that the same structures that induce REM sleep also generate sensory information.
Role of forebrain
Hobson's 1976 research suggested that the signals interpreted as dreams originated in the brain stem during REM sleep. However, research by Mark Solms suggests that dreams are generated in the
forebrain, and that REM sleep and dreaming are not directly related.
[5] While working in the neurosurgery department at hospitals in
Johannesburg and
London, Solms had access to patients with various brain injuries. He began to question patients about their dreams and confirmed that patients with damage to the
parietal lobe stopped dreaming; this finding was in line with Hobson's 1977 theory. However, Solms did not encounter cases of loss of dreaming with patients having brain stem damage. This observation forced him to question Hobson's prevailing theory which marked the brain stem as the source of the signals interpreted as dreams. Solms viewed the idea of dreaming as a function of many complex brain structures as validating Freudian dream theory, an idea that drew criticism from Hobson.
[6]
Continual-activation theory
Combining Hobson's activation synthesis hypothesis with Solms's findings, the continual-activation theory of dreaming presented by Jie Zhang proposes that dreaming is a result of brain activation and synthesis; at the same time, dreaming and REM sleep are controlled by different brain mechanisms. Zhang hypothesizes that the function of sleep is to process, encode and transfer the data from the temporary memory to the long-term memory, though there is not much evidence backing up this so-called "consolidation." NREM sleep processes the conscious-related memory (declarative memory), and REM sleep processes the unconscious related memory (procedural memory).
Zhang assumes that during REM sleep, the unconscious part of a brain is busy processing the procedural memory; meanwhile, the level of activation in the conscious part of the brain will descend to a very low level as the inputs from the sensory are basically disconnected. This will trigger the "continual-activation" mechanism to generate a data stream from the memory stores to flow through the conscious part of the brain. Zhang suggests that this pulse-like brain activation is the inducer of each dream. He proposes that, with the involvement of the brain associative thinking system, dreaming is, thereafter, self-maintained with the dreamer's own thinking until the next pulse of memory insertion. This explains why dreams have both characteristics of continuity (within a dream) and sudden changes (between two dreams).
[7][8]
Dreams and memory
Eugen Tarnow suggests that dreams are ever-present excitations of
long-term memory, even during waking life. The strangeness of dreams is due to the format of long-term memory, reminiscent of
Penfield & Rasmussen’s findings that electrical excitations of the
cortex give rise to experiences similar to dreams. During waking life an executive function interprets long term memory consistent with reality checking. Tarnow's theory is a reworking of Freud's theory of dreams in which Freud's unconscious is replaced with the long-term memory system and Freud's “Dream Work” describes the structure of long-term memory.
[9]
Hippocampus and memory
A 2001 study showed evidence that illogical locations, characters, and dream flow may help the brain strengthen the linking and consolidation of
semantic memories. These conditions may occur because, during REM sleep, the flow of information between the
hippocampus and
neocortex is reduced.
[10] Increasing levels of the
stress hormone
Cortisol late in sleep (often during REM sleep) cause this decreased communication. One stage of
memory consolidation is the linking of distant but related memories. Payne and Nadal hypothesize that these memories are then consolidated into a smooth narrative, similar to a process that happens when memories are created under stress.
[11]
Functions of Dreams
There are many hypotheses about the function of dreams.
Freud proposed that dreams protect sleep, which might be disturbed by the arousal of unacceptable wishes.
Jung suggested that dreams may compensate for one-sided attitudes held in waking consciousness.
[12] Ferenczi
[13] proposed that the dream, when told, may communicate something that is not being said outright. There have also been analogies made with the cleaning-up operations of computers when they are off-line. Dreams may remove parasitic nodes and other "junk" from the mind during sleep.
[14] [15] Dreams may also create new ideas through the generation of random thought mutations. Some of these may be rejected by the mind as useless, while others may be seen as valuable and retained. Blechner
[16] calls this the theory of "Oneiric Darwinism." Dreams may also regulate mood.
[17] Hartmann
[18] says dreams may function like psychotherapy, by "making connections in a safe place" and allowing the dreamer to integrate thoughts that may be dissociated during waking life.
Cultural history
Dreams have a long history both as a subject of conjecture and as a source of inspiration. Throughout their history, people have sought
meaning in dreams or
divination through dreams. They have been described
physiologically as a response to neural processes during sleep,
psychologically as reflections of the
subconscious, and
spiritually as messages from
God or predictions of the future. Many cultures practiced
dream incubation, with the intention of cultivating dreams that were
prophetic or contained messages from the
divine.
Dreams in Christianity
In ancient
Judeo-Christianity: in the
Tanakh,
Jacob,
Joseph and
Daniel are given the ability to interpret dreams by
Yahweh; in the
New Testament, divine inspiration comes as a dream to
Saint Joseph, the husband of
Mary, when the
Archangel Gabriel spoke to him in a dream and told him that the baby Mary was carrying was the
Messiah. After their flight to
Egypt, Gabriel appeared again in a dream to tell him when it was safe to return to
Israel.
The story of
Saint Patrick and his conversion of the people of
Ireland also features dreaming. When Patrick was enslaved in
Antrim he was told by
God in a dream that there was a boat waiting in
Wicklow to bring him back to his homeland.
The belief that dreams were part of a spiritual world continued into the Early
Middle Ages. A story from
Nevers, which is reproduced in the ''
Golden Legend'', states that one night the Emperor
Charlemagne dreamed that he was saved from being killed by a
wild boar during a
hunt by the appearance of a child, who had promised to save the emperor from death if he would give him clothes to cover his nakedness. The
bishop of Nevers interpreted this dream to mean that he wanted the emperor to repair the roof of the
cathedral dedicated to the boy-saint
Saint Cyricus.
Dreams in Judaism and Islam
The
Torah and the
Qur'ān tell the same story of
Joseph, who was given the power to interpret dreams and act accordingly. Biblical stories and actions that came from dreams (and visions) form about one-third of the entire Bible.
In
Islam, good dreams are considered to be from
Allah and bad dreams from
Satan.
[19]
Ayurvedic medicine
In India, scholars such as
Charaka (300 BC) gave alternative explanations for the reasons behind dream. In
Charaka Samhita the explanation of dreams is as follows : " ''The cause of dream are seven. They are what you have seen, heard, experienced, wish to experience, forced to experience, imagined and by the inherent nature of the body''".
Dream content
From the 1940s to 1985,
Calvin S. Hall collected more than 50,000 dream reports at
Western Reserve University. In 1966 Hall and Van De Castle published ''The content analysis of dreams'' in which they outlined a coding system to study 1,000 dream reports from college students.
[20] It was found that people all over the world dream of mostly the same things. Hall's complete dream reports became publicly available in the mid-1990s by Hall's protégé
William Domhoff allowing further content analysis.
Emotions
The most common emotion experienced in dreams was
anxiety. Negative emotions are more common than positive feelings.
Some ethnic groups like the
Yir Yoront showed an abnormally high percentage of dreams of an aggressive nature. The U.S. ranks the highest amongst industrialized nations for aggression in dreams with 50 percent of U.S. males reporting aggression in dreams, compared to 32 percent for Dutch men.
Gender differences
In men's dreams 70 percent of the characters are other men, while a female's dreams contain an equal number of men and women.
Men generally had more aggressive feelings in their dreams than women, and children's dreams did not have very much aggression until they reached teen age. These findings parallel much of the current research on gender and gender role comparisons in aggressive behavior. Rather than showing a complementary or compensatory aggressive style, this study supports the view that there is a continuity between our conscious and unconscious styles and personalities.
Sexual content
Sexual content is not as prevalent in dreams as one might expect. The Hall data analysis shows that sexual dreams show up no more than 10 percent of the time and are more prevalent in young to mid teens
. Another study showed that 8% of men's and women's dreams have sexual content
[21].
Recurring dreams
While the content of most dreams is dreamt only once, many people experience recurring dreams—that is, the same dream narrative is experienced over different occasions of sleep. Up to 70% of females and 65% of males report recurrent dreams.
[22]
Common themes
Content-analysis studies scientists have identified common reported themes in dreams. These include: situations relating to school, being chased, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too late, a person now alive being dead, flying, failing an examination, or a car accident. Twelve percent of people dream only in black and white.
[23]
Dream interpretation
Main articles: Dream interpretation
Both
Sigmund Freud and
Carl Jung identify dreams as an interaction between the
unconscious and the
conscious. They also assert together that the unconscious is the dominant force of the dream, and in dreams it conveys its own mental activity to the perceptive faculty. While Freud felt that there was an active censorship against the unconscious even during sleep,
Jung argued that the dream's bizarre quality is an efficient language, comparable to poetry and uniquely capable of ''revealing'' the underlying meaning.
Fritz Perls presented his theory of dreams as part of the holistic nature of
Gestalt therapy. Dreams are seen as projections of parts of the self that have been ignored, rejected or
suppressed.
[24] Jung argued that one could consider every person in the dream to represent an aspect of the dreamer, which he called the subjective approach to dreams.
Perls expanded this point of view to say that even inanimate objects in the dream may represent aspects of the dreamer. The dreamer may therefore be asked to imagine being an object in the dream and to describe it, in order to bring into awareness the characteristics of the object that correspond with the dreamer's personality.
Other associated phenomena
Lucid dreaming
Main articles: Lucid dreaming
Lucid dreaming is the conscious perception of one's state while dreaming.
[25] The occurrence of lucid dreaming has been scientifically verified.
[26]
Dreams of absent-minded transgression
Dreams of absent-minded transgression (DAMT) are dreams wherein the dreamer absentmindedly performs an action that he or she has been trying to stop (one classic example is of a quitting smoker having dreams of lighting a cigarette). Subjects who have had DAMT have reported awaking with intense feelings of guilt. Some studies have shown that DAMT are positively related with successfully stopping the behaviour, when compared to control subjects who did not experience these dreams.
[27]
Dreaming as a skeptical argument
Main articles: dream argument
While one dreams a non-lucid dream, one will not realize one is dreaming (one classic example is a child dreaming that they are using the toilet and end up wetting the bed because they don't realize that they are in a dream). This has led philosophers to the idea that one could be dreaming right now (or at least one cannot be certain that one is not dreaming). First formally introduced by
Zhuangzi and popularized by Hindu beliefs, the dream argument has become one of the most popular
skeptical hypotheses.
Buddhism, one of the major religions and philosophies in the world, makes most use of this argument.
Recalling dreams
According to Craig Hamilton-Parker,
[28] author of ''Fantasy Dreaming'', many humans find certain dreams extremely difficult to recall. According to David Koulack in "To Catch A Dream," researchers refer to these types of dreams as "no content dream reports." It is thought that such dreams are characterized by relatively little
affect. According to Koulack, factors such as salience, arousal and interference play a role in dream recall and dream recall failure. According to Henry Reed, author of ''Dream Medicine'', a useful technique to improve dream recall is to keep a
dream journal.
Stephen LaBerge, author of ''Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming'', also suggests that one must lie perfectly still upon awaking from a dream, not letting concerns of the day occupy the mind. It is quite common to not remember much of what has just been dreamed, but LaBerge maintains that with sufficient concentration, the entire dream may be recalled.
Another sufficient method to recall a dream is to wake at least 5 minutes after dreaming.
Déjà vu
Main articles: Déjà vu
The theory of déjà vu dealing with dreams indicates that the feeling of having previously seen or experienced something could be attributed to having dreamt about a similar situation or place, and forgetting about it until one seems to be mysteriously reminded of the situation or place while awake.
Dream incorporation
In one use of the term, "dream incorporation" is a phenomenon whereby an external stimulus, usually an auditory one, becomes a part of a dream, eventually then awakening the dreamer. There is a famous painting by
Salvador Dalí that depicts this concept, titled "
Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening" (1944).
The term "dream incorporation" is also used in research examining the degree to which preceding daytime events become elements of dreams. Recent studies suggest that events in the day immediately preceding, and those about a week before, have the most influence
[29].
See also
★
Daydream
★
Dream art
★
Dream dictionary
★
Dreamlog
★
Dreamwork
★
Dream world (plot device)
★
Dream yoga in Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen tradition
★
Hypnagogia
★
List of dream diaries
★
Lucid dreaming
★
Oneirology
References
Cited
1. How Dream Works, , , , , 2006,
2. Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep, , , , , 2006,
3. The Sleepwatchers, , William, Dement, Springer-Verlag, 1996,
4. Regularly occurring periods of eye motility, and concomitant phenomena, during sleep, , E, Aserinsky, Science, 1953
5. Dreaming and REM sleep are controlled by different brain mechanisms, , M., Solms, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2000,
6. The Mind at Night: The New Science of How and Why we Dream, , Andrea, Rock, Basic Books, 2004,
7. Memory process and the function of sleep, , Jie, Zhang, Journal of Theoretics, 2004,
8. Continual-activation theory of dreaming, Dynamical Psychology, , Jie, Zhang, , 2005,
9. How Dreams And Memory May Be Related, , Eugen, Tarnow, NEURO-PSYCHOANALYSIS, 2003,
10. Sleep, Learning, and Dreams: Off-line Memory Reprocessing, R. Stickgold, J. A. Hobson, R. Fosse, M. Fosse1, , , Science, 2001
11. Sleep, dreams, and memory consolidation: The role of the stress hormone cortisol, Jessica D. Payne and Lynn Nadel1, , , LEARNING & MEMORY, 2004
12. Jung, C. (1948) General aspects of dream psychology. In: ''Dreams.'' Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 23-66.
13. Ferenczi, S. (1913)To whom does one relate one's dreams? In: ''Further Contributions to the Theory and Technique of Psycho-Analysis.'' New York: Brunner/Mazel, 349.
14. Evans, C. & Newman, E. (1964) Dreaming: An analogy from computers. ''New Scientist'', 419:577-579.
15. Crick, F. & Mitchison, G. (1983) The function of dream sleep. ''Nature'', 304:11-114.
16. Blechner, M. (2001) ''The Dream Frontier''. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.
17. Kramer, M. (1993)The selective mood regulatory function of dreaming: An update and revision. In: ''The Function of Dreaming''. Ed., A. Moffitt, M. Kramer, & R. Hoffmann. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
18. Hartmann, E. (1995)Making connections in a safe place: Is dreaming psychotherapy? ''Dreaming'', 5:213-228.
19. What is the Islamic teaching about dreams?
20. Hall, C., & Van de Castle, R. (1966). The Content Analysis of Dreams. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. Content Analysis Explained
21. Zadra, A., "1093: SEX DREAMS: WHAT DO MEN AND WOMEN DREAM ABOUT?" ''SLEEP'', Volume 30, Abstract Supplement, 2007 A376.
22. Van de Castle, p. 340.
23. Typical Dreams: Stability and Gender Differences, Michael Schredl, Petra Ciric, Simon Götz, Lutz Wittmann, , , The Journal of Psychology, 2004
24. The Return of Suppressed Thoughts in Dreams, Wegner, D.M., Wenzlaff, R.M. & Kozak M., , , Psychological Science, 2004
25. Lucid dreaming FAQ by 1The Lucidity Institute at Psych Web.
26.
Lucid Dreaming: Its Experimental Proof and Psychological Conditions., Watanabe, Tsuneo, , , Journal-of-International-Society-of-Life-Information-Science, 2003
27. Dream of absent-minded transgression: an empirical study of a cognitive withdrawal symptom Hajek P, Belcher M.
28. http://www.psychics.co.uk
29. http://www.asdreams.org/2003/abstracts/genevieve_alain.htm
General
★ Crick, F. & Mitchinson, G. (
1983) "The function of dream sleep." ''Nature'' '304', pp. 111-114.
★ Tarnow, E. (2003) "
How Dreams And Memory May Be Related." ''Neuro-Psychoanalysis'' '5(2)', pp. 177-182.
★
Our Dreaming Mind, , Robert L., Van de Castle, Ballantine Books, 1994,
★ Reiser, M.R. (2001) "
The Dream in Contemporary Psychiatry". ''American Journal of Psychiatry'' '158', pp. 351-359
Literature
Classical texts
★
Artemidorus, ''
The Oneirocritica of Artemidorus'', University Microfilms,
New Haven (1971).
★
Sigmund Freud, ''
The Interpretation of Dreams'', Avon, (1980).
★
Carl Jung, ''Dreams'',
Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey (1974).
Cultural and literary history of the dream
★ Bernard Dieterle, Manfred Engel (ed.): ''The Dream and the Enlightenment / Le Rêve et les Lumières''. Paris: Honoré Champion 2003; ISBN 2-7453-0672-3.
Psychology and psychotherapy
★ Clara E. Hill, ''Working with Dreams in Psychotherapy'' (1996) ISBN 1-57230-092-2
★ Koulack, David "To Catch A Dream: Explorations of Dreaming," SUNY Press, New York (1991).
Lucid dreaming
★
Jayne Gackenbach,
Stephen LaBerge, ''Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain: Perspectives on Lucid Dreaming'', Plenum Publishing Corporation,
New York (1988).
Dreams and esotericism
★
Acharya, Pt. Shriram Sharma,
''Sleep, Dreams and Spiritual Reflections'' (2000)
★ Patricia L Garfield, ''Creative Dreaming'' (1974) ISBN 0-671-21903-0
★ Will Phillips, ''Every Dreamer's Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Benefiting From Your Dreams'', ISBN 1-57566-048-2, Totonada Press (1994)
★
Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, ''Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light'', Snow Lion Publications,
Ithaca, New York (1992).
★
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, ''The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep'', Snow Lion Publications,
Ithaca, New York (1998).
★
Carlos Castaneda, ''The Art of Dreaming'', Harper Collins (1993)
External links
★
Dreams at the
Open Directory Project.
★
The International Association for the Study of Dreams
★
What Dreams Are Made Of, article from
msnbc.com's Newsweek.
★
Content Analysis Explained The complete Calvin S. Hall / Robert Van de Castle coding system.
★
The Epistemology of Descartes (fulltext) Classic philosophy on the difference between the real and the dream world.
★
Dreams: The Case Against Problem Solving.
'
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