Abstract
In this paper we propose an emotion assimilation function of sleep and dreaming. We offer explanations both for the mechanisms by which waking-life memories are initially selected for processing during sleep, and for the mechanisms by which those memories are subsequently transformed during sleep. We propose that emotions act as a marker for information to be selectively processed during sleep, including consolidation into long term memory structures and integration into pre-existing memory networks; that dreaming reflects these emotion assimilation processes; and that the associations between memory fragments activated during sleep give rise to measureable elements of dream metaphor and hyperassociativity. The latter are a direct reflection, and the phenomenological experience, of emotional memory assimilation processes occurring during sleep. While many theories previously have posited a role for emotion processing and/or emotional memory consolidation during sleep and dreaming, sleep theories often do not take enough account of important dream science data, yet dream research, when conducted systematically and under ideal conditions, can greatly enhance theorizing around the functions of sleep. Similarly, dream theories often fail to consider the implications of sleep-dependent memory research, which can augment our understanding of dream functioning. Here, we offer a synthesized view, taking detailed account of both sleep and dream data and theories. We draw on extensive literature from sleep and dream experiments and theories, including often-overlooked data from dream science which we believe reflects sleep phenomenology, to bring together important ideas and findings from both domains.
Highlights
While many of the emotion-processing theories suggest, with Walker (2009), that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) dreaming is a malfunction of the ‘normal’ dreaming process and account for the change in dreams and adaptation to the trauma by postulating the dreamwork as a long-term, iterative process, they do not attempt to explain what it is that has malfunctioned: why dreams become repetitive and literal, and unable to serve their emotional memory-assimilation process. We address this issue in Section “The Emotion Assimilation Theory of Sleep and Dreaming,” where we suggest that PTSD dreams are a malfunction of the ‘normal’ dreaming process due to the stunting of imagination, which is the driving force of the quality of dreams required for ‘normal’ dreaming, which involves the assimilation of emotional memories
In line with sleep and memory researchers (e.g., Payne, 2010; Wamsley and Stickgold, 2011), we propose that emotional waking-life memories are preferentially activated during sleep, appearing in dreams, in order to assimilate these memories into the wider memory system
We propose that the process of assimilating emotional waking-life experiences during sleep and dreaming into preexisting networks and schemas requires imaginational abilities: for sleep and dreaming to achieve this function, individuals must be able to conjure experiences appearing in dreams during sleep in specific ways, as will be explained
Summary
The ways in which our emotions function (or malfunction) in waking life are greatly affected by sleep. One pertinent study found that the hippocampus (for memory) and the amygdala (for emotion) are both more active when participants are shown emotional compared to neutral stimuli, but when shown the same material months later only the hippocampus is more active (Dolcos et al, 2005), suggesting the memory is strengthened for recall, but emotional reactivity is weakened Walker hypothesized that this process occurs during sleep, and sleep loss results in longterm affective issues, such as chronic anxiety. The authors suggest that emotional disorders such as depression may be due to an overstimulation of sleep processes (such as greater amygdala activation, higher amounts of REM sleep, and more negative affect in dreams), which results in an excessive emotional response, to negative stimuli This would explain why sleep deprivation benefits depressed individuals. A similar model has been espoused in relation to dream incorporation of negative stimuli, the Disruption-Avoidance-Adaptation model (Wright and Koulack, 1987), which will be explored further later, in Section “Wright and Koulack: The Disruption-AvoidenceAdaption Model.”
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