Function Of Dreams Research Articles

Evidence Against the Defensive Activation Theory of REM Sleep

David Eagleman and DA Vaughn have recently posited a very interesting new hypothesis of the 1​ function of REM sleep and dreaming​ . They posit that REM sleep is there to keep the visual cortex active during the dark hours of night to prevent the neuroplasticity that happens during darkness, making the visual cortex responsive to non-visual stimuli. Here, we make predictions to test the theory and show that the evidence examined does not lend support to the aforementioned theory. In particular, the fact that blind species show REM sleep comparable to that of their vident counterparts suggests the role of REM sleep is not specific to vision.

The threat simulation in nightmares—Frequency and characteristics of dream threats in frequent nightmare dreamers.

According to the threat simulation theory, the function of dreams is to rehearse threatening situations, which served an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors. Furthermore, the exposure to waking life threats is thus supposed to lead to an increased occurrence or quality of dream threats. Aims of

DREAM and RB cooperate to induce gene repression and cell-cycle arrest in response to p53 activation.

Most human cancers acquire mutations causing defects in the p53 signaling pathway. The tumor suppressor p53 becomes activated in response to genotoxic stress and is essential for arresting the cell cycle to facilitate DNA repair or to initiate apoptosis. p53-induced cell cycle-arrest is mediated by expression of the CDK inhibitor p21WAF1/Cip1, which prevents phosphorylation and inactivation of the pocket proteins RB, p130, and p107. In a hypophosphorylated state, pocket proteins bind to E2F factors forming RB-E2F and DREAM transcriptional repressor complexes. Here, we analyze the influence of RB and DREAM on p53-induced gene repression and cell-cycle arrest. We show that abrogation of DREAM function by knockout of the DREAM component LIN37 results in a reduced repression of cell-cycle genes. We identify the genes repressed by the p53-DREAM pathway and describe a set of genes that is downregulated by p53 independent of LIN37/DREAM. Most strikingly, p53-dependent repression of cell-cycle genes is completely abrogated in LIN37−/−;RB−/− cells leading to a loss of the G1/S checkpoint. Taken together, we show that DREAM and RB are key factors in the p53 signaling pathway to downregulate a large number of cell-cycle genes and to arrest the cell cycle at the G1/S transition.

Sleep Physiology and Dreams Subjective Meaning

Earlier, scientists believed that sleep is necessary for the "rest" of brain neurons, and therefore sleep should be characterized by a decrease in the activity of brain neurons during this period. However, studies of the electrical activity of individual brain neurons during sleep have shown that during sleep, overall, there is no decrease in the average frequency of neuronal activity compared to the state of restful wakefulness. Currently, sleep research and diagnosis of its pathologies are performed using polysomnography, a system of recording brain activity (EEG), eye movements, muscle activity or skeletal muscle activation (EMG), and heart rate (ECG). During sleep, the metabolic processes in the cerebral cortex do not fall (slow sleep phase); as one would expect, but instead they grow (in the fast-sleep phase), resulting in the sleeping person's brain consuming more oxygen than the human being in a state of alertness. In general, a person's dream has a proper cyclic organization. Electroencephalographic analysis of night sleep allows distinguishing five stages. The first four refer to the slow phase of sleep, the fifth to the fast. The peculiarity of the interpretation of dreams is the first science known by Z. Freud. His theory has a reverse temporal direction toward childhood experiences and childhood suppressed desires. In the Jungian approach, the overall function of dreams is to try to restore our mental balance through the production of dream material, which restores - in a very delicate way - a wholesome mental balance. In the framework of Gestalt Therapy by F. Perls he believed that in order to understand the meaning of dreams, it was better not to interpret it. Given that dreaming is a projection where all the actors and objects that appear in it are the dreamer, it is more appropriate to find feelings about the objects and subjects of sleep. Therefore, it can be argued that the human brain is active during sleep, although this activity is qualitatively different than during the state, and in different stages of sleep has its specificity. Since the formation and development of Freud's views, dreams have been recognized by psychotherapists as an essential key on the path from unconscious material to the achievement of human integrity.

The effects of dream rebound: evidence for emotion-processing theories of dreaming.

Suppressing thoughts often leads to a "rebound" effect, both in waking cognition (thoughts) and in sleep cognition (dreams). Rebound may be influenced by the valence of the suppressed thought, but there is currently no research on the effects of valence on dream rebound. Further, the effects of dream rebound on subsequent emotional response to a suppressed thought have not been studied before. The present experiment aimed to investigate whether emotional valence of a suppressed thought affects dream rebound, and whether dream rebound subsequently influences subjective emotional response to the suppressed thought. Participants (N = 77) were randomly assigned to a pleasant or unpleasant thought suppression condition, suppressed their target thought for 5 min pre-sleep every evening, reported the extent to which they successfully suppressed the thought, and reported their dreams every morning for 7 days. It was found that unpleasant thoughts were more prone to dream rebound than pleasant thoughts. There was no effect of valence on the success or failure of suppression during wakefulness. Dream rebound and successful suppression were each found to have beneficial effects for subjective emotional response to both pleasant and unpleasant thoughts. The results may lend support for an emotion-processing theory of dream function.

Dreaming is imaginative play in sleep: A theory of the function of dreams.

Dreaming is imaginative play in sleep: A theory of the function of dreams.

Collective Trauma and Mystic Dreams in Zabuzhko’s “The Museum of Abandoned Secrets”

The 20th century of human history was overshadowed by the horrifying events of world wars and totalitarian regimes, with their traumatic experiences becoming the very focus of today’s modern globalized society. Psychoanalytic psychotherapy is one of the ways of dealing with this overwhelmingly violent phenomenon. This article will discuss an historical traumatic event through literature, using psychoanalytic theories of trauma. The problem is discussed on the level of the actual theoretical landscape including the relation between transgenerational transmitted trauma, collective trauma, and cumulative trauma inscribed in a “foundation matrix” (Foulkes). As a clinical vignette, the novel “Museum of Abandoned Secrets” by modern Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko is used. The author addresses the functions of dreams, scrutinizing the psychodynamics of the novel using concepts of projective identification, mourning, the need for repair, and epigenetic and fractal theory. It is suggested that the novel facilitates the characters’ journey through trauma and its integration by the large groups (of readers).

Dreams as Fictional Remembering

ABSTRACTDuring dreaming, the brain inhibits input from the senses and blocks motor output. The miracle is that, despite a lack of contact with the senses and a temporary paralysis, the brain continues to generate densely meaningful first-person scenarios. What justifies this purely imaginative procedure that leaves people so vulnerable to predators? A great deal of neuroanatomical evidence suggests that during REM sleep, the brain prunes exuberant synaptic connections. In so doing, the brain simplifies overly complex models of the world formed during the day to deal with noisy scenarios and renders them more generalizable to the future. Freud likened the mandate of dreaming to the task an illustrator faces in coming up with a single illustration to represent the day’s headlines. In my view, this process of condensation is not a method of disguise, as Freud believed, but the very function of dreaming, and it has a temporal signature. Dreams reveal and simplify past happenings by generating tight fictional narratives around similar schemas, exposing by analogy the deep invariant structures of the stories by which people organize their lives.

Pre-sleep and post-sleep mood as a complementary evaluation of emotionally impactful dreams

Impactful dreams are reported by the dreamer to have an effect on their waking mood. However, the time course relationship of negative and positive impactful dreams with pre-sleep and post-sleep mood has not been examined closely. A total of 32 participants (21 females) reported one dream self-rated as either very or extremely emotionally impactful and one dream self-rated as not at all emotionally impactful (mundane dream), totalling 64 dreams. Participants completed a dream diary as well as pre-sleep, dream, and post-sleep mood checklists. They also completed rating scales of the impact of their dreams. The Hall & Van de Castle method was used for dream coding and analysis. A dream containing more positive than negative emotions was classified as positively impactful and vice versa. The 2 x 3 analysis of variance demonstrated a significant difference between mundane dreams and both negative and positive impactful dreams. Overall, negative impactful dreams were associated with higher negative mood levels at pre-sleep, in dream, and at post-sleep, compared to mundane dreams. Conversely, positive impactful dreams were associated with more positive mood levels during the dream and at post-sleep, but not at pre-sleep. Correlational analyses demonstrated that in negative impactful dreams, negative dream mood strongly correlated with negative post-sleep mood. Similarly, in positive impactful dreams, positive dream mood strongly correlated with positive post-sleep mood. However, pre-sleep and dream mood, whether positive or negative, did not significantly correlate. Additionally, there was a significant correlation between pre-sleep and post-sleep positive mood in positive impactful dreams and mundane dreams. These results confirm that dream mood and post-sleep mood are positively related, further suggesting a potential effect on post-sleep mood. The absence of a relationship between pre-sleep and dream mood undermines the continuity theory as well as modern dream function theories for emotions. The threat simulation theory is also used to interpret results.

The DREAM complex through its subunit Lin37 cooperates with Rb to initiate quiescence.

The retinoblastoma Rb protein is an important factor controlling the cell cycle. Yet, mammalian cells carrying Rb deletions are still able to arrest under growth-limiting conditions. The Rb-related proteins p107 and p130, which are components of the DREAM complex, had been suggested to be responsible for a continued ability to arrest by inhibiting E2f activity and by recruiting chromatin-modifying enzymes. Here, we show that p130 and p107 are not sufficient for DREAM-dependent repression. We identify the MuvB protein Lin37 as an essential factor for DREAM function. Cells not expressing Lin37 proliferate normally, but DREAM completely loses its ability to repress genes in G0/G1 while all remaining subunits, including p130/p107, still bind to target gene promoters. Furthermore, cells lacking both Rb and Lin37 are incapable of exiting the cell cycle. Thus, Lin37 is an essential component of DREAM that cooperates with Rb to induce quiescence.

An Approach to Understanding Dreams

The dream exists as an experience extended in time which can be captured in the dream report as an excellent approximation of the experience. Dreams can be adequately collected and reliably measured. Dream reports are both stable and variable across time. Dream reports show meaningful content differences in group and individual situations, where psychological differences are known to exist. Dreams and waking life are linked and dreams are responsive to the immediate emotional concern of the dreamer. The dream is sufficiently orderly that the search for its meaning is justified. Methods exist to establish the meaning of the dream experience working with the dreamer through associations or amplification. A method “Dream Translation” is described in which the meaning of the dream report is explored using the associations of the translator rather than the dreamers. The translation approach could be used by the clinician to assess whether the patient has improved and to establish the immediate current emotional concern of the patient at the initial contact or at points of block in the therapy. Although the dream report has the necessary characteristics to establish a meaning from it and a method exists to establish the meaning, this does not address the possible functional significance of dreaming. We have explored the dream function question in a monograph on the subject (Moffitt et al., The functions of dreaming. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993).

On the Functions of Dreamtelling in the Context of Group Dynamics

This article provides a brief review of the development of psychoanalytic views on the function, role and use of dreams in therapy. Dream telling is considered to be associated with a specific stage of group development. It is assumed that telling and processing dreams in the group aids members in restoring the integrity of their ‘inner image of the group’ when this integrity is threatened by conflicts. Telling and processing dreams in the group is also perceived as capable of performing other functions: alleviation of separation anxiety, a ‘levelling and regulating’ effect on the dreamer’s involvement in the group process, and the alignment of the positions of group members in terms of meeting the challenges of group development. Both the resistance and the motivation for development are always simultaneously present in dream telling. Which trend will prevail at any given moment depends on the particular situation in the group analytical process.

The "Asia-Pacific Dream": Is China Using Economic Integration Initiatives as Ideological Weapons? – On The Link Between Free Trade Agreements, Soft Power and "Universal Values"

This article examines the function and role of the Asia-Pacific Dream (including the FTAAP) in China's foreign policy strategy by analysing the speech in which Xi Jinping promoted this dream, and creating a link between China's push for regional economic integration, soft power strategy and universal values. While China is promoting this concept and the FTAAP to increase its influence in the region, the U.S. have also been rebalancing to through different means, such as its push for the TPP. These two free trade agreements (FTA), though not mutually exclusive, are considered to be directed against each other, indicating a struggle for influence in the region, and also seem to entail an ideological agenda. As both the Asia-Pacific Dream and the U.S. pivot to Asia are connected to major FTA's, this paper argues that the motives for promoting these FTAs go far beyond economic interests; the research suggests that they are used to increase soft power in the region as well as to influence the discourse on universal values.

The nightmare protection hypothesis: An experimental inquiry

Using the ideas generated in Revonsuo and Valli’s Threat Simulation model of the function of dreaming, previous research looked at how military personal’s dreams were associated with video game play. A nightmare protection effect was found and replicated using an undergraduate student population. Based on the previous findings, in this study an experimental manipulation was conducted where male participants engaged in one of three computer tasks, including gaming and search. All participants also viewed a frightening movie clip. Following the laboratory session respondents were asked to report a dream. The Threat Simulation method of coding dreams was used to assess threat in participant’s dreams. The major hypothesis was that playing a combat centric game would be more likely to result in behaviors in the dream which were less nightmarish after seeing the frightening movie clip, relative to playing a creative video game or doing a computer search task. The results support the thesis for high end male gamers playing combat centric video games close in time to being exposed to a frightening film clip. These young men are either not perceiving the same danger in their follow-up dream as threatening or that the content is not as scary as those without a recent experience of combat centric gaming.

Nightmares and nonsuicidal self-injury: The mediating role of emotional dysregulation

IntroductionNonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a transdiagnostic behavior associated with significant psychopathology. Research has shown a positive association between sleep disturbances, (e.g., nightmares and insomnia), and suicidal behavior, however, the relation between NSSI and sleep disturbances has yet to be examined. Sleep disturbances have been found to have a causal role in problems with emotional dysfunction. Specifically, sleep disturbances inhibit the emotion processing function of sleep. Importantly, a majority of individuals engage in NSSI to regulate intense emotions, and it is possible that sleep disturbances increase propensity for NSSI by contributing to dysregulated emotions. MethodsIn two cross-sectional studies, the present research examined whether insomnia symptoms and nightmares were related to NSSI in a clinical sample (Study 1, N = 313) and in a university sample (Study 2, N = 152). Furthermore, the hypothesis that emotional dysregulation would atemporally mediate the relationship between sleep disturbances and NSSI was tested in Study 2. ResultsFindings showed that nightmares, but not insomnia symptoms, were associated with NSSI while controlling for depressive symptoms. This pattern of findings was consistent across both clinical and university samples, which underscores the robustness of the finding. Further, the relationship between nightmares and NSSI was fully mediated by emotional dysregulation. ConclusionThe present research provides initial evidence that nightmares are atemporally associated with an increased propensity for NSSI by contributing to emotional dysregulation, and provides support for the emotion regulation function of dreams.

DREAMS AND POLITICAL IMAGINATION IN COLONIAL BUGANDA

AbstractThis article explores the intellectual history of dreaming practices in the eastern African kingdom of Buganda. Whereas Muslim dissenters used their dreams to challenge colonial authority following the kingdom's late nineteenth-century religious wars, political historians such as Apolo Kaggwa removed the political practice of dreaming from Buganda's official histories to deplete the visionary archives from which dissenters continued to draw. Kaggwa's strategy, though, could only be pressed so far. Recently unearthed vernacular sources show that Christian activists, such as Erieza Bwete and Eridadi Mulira, continued to marshal their dreams and literacy to imagine competing visions of Buganda's colonial monarchy. Earlier scholars had argued that modernity and literacy would displace the political function of dreams. This article, by contrast, proposes that sleeping visions took on new, more complicated meanings throughout the twentieth century. Literacy offered new technologies to expound upon the political implications of dreams and a vast repository of symbols to enrich interpretative performances.

Sleep well feel well: An investigation into the protective value of sleep quality on subjective well‐being

ObjectiveGetting a good night's sleep is important to ensure we function most effectively in our waking lives. One area that is particularly compromised when adequate sleep is not achieved is affect regulation, which has implications for subjective well‐being (SWB). Through the lens of homeostasis theory, an investigation into the relationship between self‐reported sleep quality, stress, and SWB was undertaken in an Australian sample, with the primary aim to further understanding of the importance of sleep and its role with regard to affect regulation.MethodThe study included 488 Australian participants (77% female) with a mean age of 28.71 (standard deviation = 10.61) who were recruited via advertisements on social media websites. Participants completed measures of SWB, sleep quality, dreaming, and stress.ResultsUsing a bootstrapped mediation analysis, sleep quality was found to partially mediate the relationship between stress and SWB. These results were further explored using a two‐way analysis of variance, which revealed significant main effects for sleep and stress on SWB, but no significant interaction effect. Finally, those who had nightmares or bad dreams reported higher stress than those who had no bad dreams or nightmares.ConclusionThese findings provide preliminary evidence to suggest that the impact of stress on SWB may be reduced when adequate sleep quality is achieved, and contribute to the growing field of literature exploring the function of dreams. The findings provide new insight that can inform therapeutic approaches to sleep disorders and stress management and guide clinical interventions.

Drømme som almenpsykologisk fænomen

First, it is argued that the discovery of REM-sleep and its attributes disprove central elements in Freud’s arguments for the psychological meaningfulness of dreams. Next, Engelsted’s theory of REM-sleep as an important stepping-stone in the evolution of mammals is presented,and its implications for a theory of dreams is considered. Finally, Evan and Newton’s notion of dreams as a device to keep a biological information-processing system, the human brain, fully functional is described. In conclusion, Engelsted’s theory of REM-sleep and Evanand Newton’s theory of the cognitive function of dreams are considered to constitute a sufficient scientific foundation for most of the uses dreams are put to in modern psychotherapy.

People’s views on dreaming: Attitudes and subjective dream theories, with regard to age, education, and sex.

The study investigated subjective theories of dream function (why do we dream)- measured as level of agreement with selected prescientific and contemporary views of science (N = 667) and thus explored differences in dream attitude with respect to age, educational level, and sex. A factor analysis revealed 3 factors. One can be described as seeing dreams as meaningful information processing (memory consolidation, sorting inputs, and solving problems), a 2nd included prescientific dream theory (dreams as messages from outside and/or from deceased, or dreams as prophecies). A 3rd factor included viewing dreams as insignificant products of the brain (random chemical signal interpretation and garbage products of the brain). Factor 1 was highly related to dream attitude-the more generally approving of dreams and dreaming, the more participants would regard dreams as meaningful information processing. Factor 2 was related to sex (women being more approving) and negatively related to level of education. Factor 3 was negatively related to the dream attitude scale but positively related to dream recall, which seemed counterintuitive. This could be seen as a way of explaining the often irrational content of dreams that participants were then able to recall. Women had a more supportive attitude toward dreams and dreaming. (Less)

Dream and Sleep Disorders: Psychological and Pathophysiological Aspects

Introduction: Not only in early human societies, even today, there are people who tried to interpret dream spiritually. According to different functions of sleep and dreaming in human daily life, dream and sleep are of interest in modern science. Evolution of scientific study of dreaming during the history of medicine as well as current theories of dream have discussed in this manuscript. On the other hand, due to connection of sleep and dreaming, sleep physiology and pathology have shortly described. Conclusion: Despite of significant improvement in dream study and different theories to explain dream and sleep functions, further studies are needed to integrate all aspect of dream and sleep in human.