Abstract
Research on the continuity between waking and dreaming has clearly identified factors that affect the chances of waking-life experiences to be incorporated into subsequent dreams. As direct empirical tests of possible functions of dreaming are difficult to carry out, the question arises as to whether the research on continuity might provide hints about the functions of dreaming. At this stage it is still unclear whether dreaming is involved in sleep-dependent memory consolidation. The finding that emotional salient experiences and social interactions seem to be integral ingredients of dreams closely associated with the waking-life social environment might point to the importance of dreaming in regulating and maintaining social relationships that have been essential for survival in gatherer/hunter societies over the history of mankind. An interesting, yet unresolved, issue is the question as to why we dream about things we have never experienced in waking life (discontinuity).
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