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Cortex; a Journal Devoted To the Study... Sep 1977This paper addresses the question of right hemisphere involvement in the visual components of dreaming. The rationale derives from an observed relation between reports...
This paper addresses the question of right hemisphere involvement in the visual components of dreaming. The rationale derives from an observed relation between reports of visual agnosia accompanied by dream cessation and the literature on right hemisphere specialization for visuo-spatial processes. All night sleep EEGs were recorded from subjects with partial or complete section of the corpus callosum and anterior commissure. Upon entering a EEG-, EOG- and EMG-defined REM episode, the subjects were awakened and questioned about dream content. All subjects examined in this fashion were able to recount some visual dream content. This result fails to support any notion of selective right hemisphere visual dream mediation.
Topics: Corpus Callosum; Dominance, Cerebral; Dreams; Humans; Limbic System; Neural Pathways; Sleep, REM
PubMed: 200401
DOI: 10.1016/s0010-9452(77)80041-5 -
Behavioural Brain Research Jan 2012Intrinsic and historical weaknesses delayed the spread of a sound neurobiological investigation on dreaming. Nevertheless, recent independent findings confirm the... (Review)
Review
Intrinsic and historical weaknesses delayed the spread of a sound neurobiological investigation on dreaming. Nevertheless, recent independent findings confirm the hypothesis that the neurophysiological mechanisms of encoding and recall of episodic memories are largely comparable across wakefulness and sleep. Brain lesion and neuroimaging studies converge in indicating that temporo-parieto-occipital junction and ventromesial prefrontal cortex play a crucial role in dream recall. Morphoanatomical measurements disclose some direct relations between volumetric and ultrastructural measures of the hippocampus-amygdala on the one hand, and some specific qualitative features of dreaming on the other. Intracranial recordings of epileptic patients also provide support for the notion that hippocampal nuclei mediate memory formation during sleep as well as in wakefulness. Finally, surface EEG studies showed that sleep cortical oscillations associated to a successful dream recall are the same involved in encoding and recall of episodic memories during wakefulness. Although preliminary, these converging pieces of evidence strengthen the general view that the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying episodic/declarative memory formation may be the same across different states of consciousness.
Topics: Brain; Brain Mapping; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Dreams; Functional Neuroimaging; Humans; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall; Sleep
PubMed: 22024432
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.10.017 -
Archives Italiennes de Biologie Jul 2004The dream is tackled sometimes from the neurobiological viewpoint, sometimes from the neuropsychological angle, or from the positions of experimental and...
The dream is tackled sometimes from the neurobiological viewpoint, sometimes from the neuropsychological angle, or from the positions of experimental and psychoanalytical psychology. Interest in dreams started with psychoanalysis in 1900, and 53 years later the discovery of REM sleep by Aserinski and Kleitman, and subsequent psychophysiological findings took the dream into the realm of biology. The dichotomous model of REM and non-REM sleep is described, as a basis for thought-like activity (non-REM sleep) and dreaming (REM sleep). This led to Hobson and McCarley's theory of activation-synthesis, suggesting that the mind while dreaming is simply the brain self-activated in REM sleep. Psychophysiological research has shown that people dream in all phases of sleep, from falling asleep to waking, but that the characteristics of the dreams may differ in the different phases. Bio-imaging studies indicate that during REM sleep there is activation of the pons, the amygdala bilaterally, and the anterior cingulate cortex, and disactivation of the posterior cingulate cortex and the prefrontal cortex. The images suggest there is a neuroanatomical frame within which dreams can be generated and then forgotten. Psychoanalysis studies the dream from a completely different angle. Freud believed it was the expression of hallucinatory satisfaction of repressed desires. Today it is interpreted as the expression of a representation of the transference in the hic et nunc of the session. At the same time it also has symbol-generating functions which provide an outlet by which affective experiences and fantasies and defences stored as parts of an unrepressed unconscious in the implicit memory can be represented in pictorial terms, then thought and rendered verbally. From the psychoanalytical point of view, the dream transcends neurobiological knowledge, and looks like a process of internal activation that is only apparently chaotic, but is actually rich in meanings, arising from the person's affective and emotional history.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Dreams; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Interdisciplinary Communication; Models, Neurological; Neurosciences; Psychoanalysis; Psychophysiology; Sleep, REM
PubMed: 15493553
DOI: No ID Found -
Human Neurobiology 1987The unusual aspect of dream consciousness which has been called "dream bizarreness" may be defined as impossibility or improbability in the domains of dream plot,...
The unusual aspect of dream consciousness which has been called "dream bizarreness" may be defined as impossibility or improbability in the domains of dream plot, cognition and affect. The bizarre features of dreams may be divided into three broad categories: discontinuities, incongruities and uncertainties. Discontinuities are interruptions in orientational stability; incongruities are inappropriate syntheses of mismatching plot elements; uncertainties are confusions of distinct conceptions. Dream bizarreness appears to be the manifestation of some state-dependent cognitive process which is probably rooted in REM sleep neurophysiology. In the waking state, our brain/minds are capable of remaining focused on the normal flow of ongoing information, and such features of life as plot and time unfold in a linear sequence. In REM sleep/dreaming, this function appears to be interfered with, and disparate elements of consciousness are suddenly interjected as the brain/mind cannot maintain its orientational focus in the usual way.
Topics: Arousal; Dreams; Humans; Sleep, REM; Time Perception; Wakefulness
PubMed: 3449484
DOI: No ID Found -
Science (New York, N.Y.) Mar 2022How does dopamine, the brain's pleasure signal, regulate the dream stage of sleep?
How does dopamine, the brain's pleasure signal, regulate the dream stage of sleep?
Topics: Dopamine; Dreams; Sleep; Sleep, REM
PubMed: 35239395
DOI: 10.1126/science.abo1987 -
Revue Neurologique Oct 2023Since the discovery of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep in 1953, misconceptions have arisen as to the evidence for its adaptive function and its relation to dreams. Eye... (Review)
Review
Since the discovery of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep in 1953, misconceptions have arisen as to the evidence for its adaptive function and its relation to dreams. Eye movements recorded during REM sleep have not been consistently reported to mirror the eye movements predicted by dream reports. But evidence on eye movement and somatic motor expression from patients with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is consistent with dream enacting behavior. The assumption that dreaming occurs only in REM sleep is incorrect, with numerous reports of nonREM dreaming. However, there may be qualitative differences between REM and nonREM dreams. Early studies that suggested a vital role for REM sleep in psychological well-being are refuted by studies of pharmacologically induced partial or complete REM sleep suppression. Studies of sleep across species show that the primitive monotreme mammals, platypus and echidna, have far more REM sleep than any other homeotherm group, whereas birds have far less REM sleep than any other homeotherm group. Human REM sleep amounts are not unusual, are correlated with nonREM sleep durations but are not correlated with intelligence. Across groups of homeotherms, REM sleep time is highly and inversely correlated (r=-0.975, P=0.02) with average core body temperature, suggesting that REM sleep cycles with nonREM sleep to regulate brain temperature during sleep. Cetacean mammals (dolphins and whales) do not have REM sleep despite their very large brain sizes and impressive cognitive abilities. Reports of "REM sleep-like states" in arachnids, cephalopods and in zebrafish larvae are lacking critical evidence that the observed behaviors are occurring during sleep and that the behaviors are homologous to mammalian REM sleep.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Sleep, REM; Dreams; Mythology; Zebrafish; Mammals
PubMed: 37625974
DOI: 10.1016/j.neurol.2023.08.002 -
Journal of the History of Ideas 2024This paper attempts an historical analysis of a dream of the physicist George Gamow recorded shortly before his death in 1968. The dream is contextualized through...
This paper attempts an historical analysis of a dream of the physicist George Gamow recorded shortly before his death in 1968. The dream is contextualized through Gamow's extended scientific work and popular scientific efforts, and in light of enduring preoccupations with the notion of a complete science. The analysis extends to an examination of the relationship of the dream to dreaming practices and deliberations apart from Gamow's, as evident in the relationship and collaboration between the physicist Wolfgang Pauli and C. G. Jung.
Topics: History, 20th Century; Dreams; Science; Physics
PubMed: 38708652
DOI: 10.1353/jhi.2024.a926153 -
The Psychoanalytic Quarterly Jul 2016The unique approach to dreams of Swiss psychoanalyst Fritz Morgenthaler (1919-1984) is presented and discussed. Although rarely discussed in the English-speaking...
The unique approach to dreams of Swiss psychoanalyst Fritz Morgenthaler (1919-1984) is presented and discussed. Although rarely discussed in the English-speaking psychoanalytic world, this approach is very alive in German-speaking countries. Focusing on the distinction between the remembered hallucinatory experience of dreamers and the event of telling dreams within psychoanalytic sessions, Morgenthaler made two major innovations: first, he proposed a new understanding and handling of associations to dreams, and second, he offered what he called dream diagnostics as an instrument with which to integrate both resistance and transference into clinical work with dreams.
Topics: Dreams; History, 20th Century; Humans; Psychoanalysis; Psychoanalytic Interpretation
PubMed: 27428586
DOI: 10.1002/psaq.12091 -
Psychiatria Hungarica : a Magyar... 2011Some decades ago the dream seemed to be randomly generated by brain stem mechanisms in the cortical and subcortical neuronal networks. However, most recent empirical... (Review)
Review
Some decades ago the dream seemed to be randomly generated by brain stem mechanisms in the cortical and subcortical neuronal networks. However, most recent empirical data, studies on brain lesions and functional neuroimaging results have refuted this theory. Several data support that motivation pathways, memory systems, especially implicit, emotional memory play an important role in dream formation. This essay reviews how the results of neurobiology and cognitive psychology can be fitted into the theoretical frameworks and clinical practice of the psychoanalysis. The main aim is to demonstrate that results of neurobiology and empirical observations of psychoanalysis are complementary rather than contradictory.
Topics: Dreams; Functional Neuroimaging; Humans; Memory; Psychoanalytic Interpretation; Sleep, REM; Unconscious, Psychology
PubMed: 22354698
DOI: No ID Found -
The Journal of Nervous and Mental... Jul 1976Data collected on women students at Edinburgh University allowed a comparison to be made between those who were taking a contraceptive pill and those who were not. The...
Data collected on women students at Edinburgh University allowed a comparison to be made between those who were taking a contraceptive pill and those who were not. The evidence suggests that women taking a contraceptive pill are more likely to recall dreaming, and that it is the progestagenic component that is the more active one. However, the data collected do not exclude the possibility that the differences observed are the consequence of other psychosocial variables; further research is recommended.
Topics: Contraceptives, Oral; Dreams; Female; Humans; Memory; Menstruation; Progesterone
PubMed: 932712
DOI: 10.1097/00005053-197607000-00008