Function Of Dreams Research Articles

Synchronicity: did Jung have it right?

Synchronicity: did Jung have it right?

The Introjective Function of Dreaming and Its Impact on the Theory of Technique.

The author proposes for debate the thesis that the main function of the process of "dreaming" (Träumen) is a daily reactivation of the process of introjection. He itemizes and discusses the epistemological obstacles that apparently prevented Freud from taking this hypothesis under consideration. He goes on to examine the arguments and assumptions supporting the hypothesis that he discerns in Freud's development of the theory of the dream and in the posthumous publications of Ferenczi. After demonstrating the affinities between his own conception of the introjective function of dreaming and Jean Laplanche's "general theory of seduction," he evokes a few of the effects of his thesis on the practice and metapsychology of analytic technique.

Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming.

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.

Theoretical trajectories: Dreams and dreaming from Freud to Bion

This paper aims at comparing Freud's and Bion's conceptual models on dreams and dreaming. Beyond both authors’ shared disposition vis‐à‐vis problems posed by knowledge, a critical gap opens regarding their differing clinical practices. It is hypothesized that their ideas do not belong to irreconcilable paradigms, but that there are continuities besides discontinuities more frequently highlighted between Freudian statements on psychic functioning – described in his theory on dreams – and Bion's findings in his development of both the original theory and the connections between dreaming and thinking. Firstly, Freud's and Bion's epistemological sources are examined as well as their creative use and historical environment. Then certain general theoretical and clinical issues are considered concerning their theories on dreams, the evolution of their ideas and corresponding clinical contexts. In a third section, their confluences and dissimilarities are dealt with, including clinical vignettes belonging to the authors to illustrate their interpretative modes of working. This is meant to show both an implicit theoretical–clinical complementarity and the fact that, though their routes bifurcate about the function of dreams, there remain connecting paths. Lastly, the final remarks review certain issues that have frequently been controversial between these lines of thought.

Theories of dreaming and lucid dreaming: An integrative review towards sleep, dreaming and consciousness

The present review gives an overview on common theories of dreaming with a specific emphasis on how they are able to explain lucid dreaming. The theories are grouped either to such that describe structural or biological processes of dreams or to such that describe evolutionary and adaptive functions of dreams. This overview shows that none of the theories outlined is fully capable of explaining neither non-lucid dreaming nor lucid dreaming. With respect to the first group, the concept of “protoconsciousness” is the theory that at best explains lucid dreaming. With respect to theories with an evolutionary and adaptive function of dreams, those theories, that stress the problem solving or simulation functions of dreams are more suited to explain lucid dreaming. Further, aspects that induce or amplify lucidity and the neural mechanisms that may be involved in lucid dreaming are described.

Structural mechanisms of DREAM complex assembly and regulation.

The DREAM complex represses cell cycle genes during quiescence through scaffolding MuvB proteins with E2F4/5 and the Rb tumor suppressor paralog p107 or p130. Upon cell cycle entry, MuvB dissociates from p107/p130 and recruits B-Myb and FoxM1 for up-regulating mitotic gene expression. To understand the biochemical mechanisms underpinning DREAM function and regulation, we investigated the structural basis for DREAM assembly. We identified a sequence in the MuvB component LIN52 that binds directly to the pocket domains of p107 and p130 when phosphorylated on the DYRK1A kinase site S28. A crystal structure of the LIN52-p107 complex reveals that LIN52 uses a suboptimal LxSxExL sequence together with the phosphate at nearby S28 to bind the LxCxE cleft of the pocket domain with high affinity. The structure explains the specificity for p107/p130 over Rb in the DREAM complex and how the complex is disrupted by viral oncoproteins. Based on insights from the structure, we addressed how DREAM is disassembled upon cell cycle entry. We found that p130 and B-Myb can both bind the core MuvB complex simultaneously but that cyclin-dependent kinase phosphorylation of p130 weakens its association. Together, our data inform a novel target interface for studying MuvB and p130 function and the design of inhibitors that prevent tumor escape in quiescence.

The Creation of a Selfobject “Communal Home” for Collective Trauma: Applications of Social Dreaming and Kohut's Group Self in Academic, Psychoanalytic, and Community Contexts

107 1 Director, Child and Family Specialization, Clinical Psychology Department, Antioch University Los Angeles. Correspondence should be addressed to George Bermudez, PhD, Antioch University Los Angeles, 400 Corporate Pointe, Culver City, CA 90230. E-mail: gbermudez@antioch.edu. This article describes and summarizes exploration of the unconscious group self (a self psychological–like configuration proposed by Heinz Kohut for group-level phenomena) by applying social dreaming (SDM), a group dreamwork practice developed by the neo-Bionian psychoanalyst Gordon Lawrence. A brief overview of the scant literature on the group self concept and social dreaming is provided, followed by a summary of several applications (SDMs on American xenophobia and Whiteness) with a focus on the creation of a communal home for witnessing, bearing, and integrating the dissociated affect related to collective trauma. In addition to the illuminating application of the group self concept, three other group self psychology concepts are proposed and defined: group self state dreams; the forward-edge function of social dreaming; and social dream moral witnessing, which promotes the emergence of a communal home for collective trauma.

An overview of the dreaming process and the selective affective theory of sleep and 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 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 of 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 initial contact or at points of block in the therapy. Although the dream report has the necessary characteristics to establish a meaning from it; this does not address the possible functional significance of dreaming. I describe here my selective, mood regulatory function of sleep and dreaming. We have explored this question more thoroughly in a monograph on dream function (Moffitt et al., The functions of dreaming, Albany, State University of New York Press, 1993)

DREAM co-operates with insulator-binding proteins and regulates expression at divergently paired genes.

dREAM complexes represent the predominant form of E2F/RBF repressor complexes in Drosophila. dREAM associates with thousands of sites in the fly genome but its mechanism of action is unknown. To understand the genomic context in which dREAM acts we examined the distribution and localization of Drosophila E2F and dREAM proteins. Here we report a striking and unexpected overlap between dE2F2/dREAM sites and binding sites for the insulator-binding proteins CP190 and Beaf-32. Genetic assays show that these components functionally co-operate and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments on mutant animals demonstrate that dE2F2 is important for association of CP190 with chromatin. dE2F2/dREAM binding sites are enriched at divergently transcribed genes, and the majority of genes upregulated by dE2F2 depletion represent the repressed half of a differentially expressed, divergently transcribed pair of genes. Analysis of mutant animals confirms that dREAM and CP190 are similarly required for transcriptional integrity at these gene pairs and suggest that dREAM functions in concert with CP190 to establish boundaries between repressed/activated genes. Consistent with the idea that dREAM co-operates with insulator-binding proteins, genomic regions bound by dREAM possess enhancer-blocking activity that depends on multiple dREAM components. These findings suggest that dREAM functions in the organization of transcriptional domains.

Loss of the Mammalian DREAM Complex Deregulates Chondrocyte Proliferation

Mammalian DREAM is a conserved protein complex that functions in cellular quiescence. DREAM contains an E2F, a retinoblastoma (RB)-family protein, and the MuvB core (LIN9, LIN37, LIN52, LIN54, and RBBP4). In mammals, MuvB can alternatively bind to BMYB to form a complex that promotes mitotic gene expression. Because BMYB-MuvB is essential for proliferation, loss-of-function approaches to study MuvB have generated limited insight into DREAM function. Here, we report a gene-targeted mouse model that is uniquely deficient for DREAM complex assembly. We have targeted p107 (Rbl1) to prevent MuvB binding and combined it with deficiency for p130 (Rbl2). Our data demonstrate that cells from these mice preferentially assemble BMYB-MuvB complexes and fail to repress transcription. DREAM-deficient mice show defects in endochondral bone formation and die shortly after birth. Micro-computed tomography and histology demonstrate that in the absence of DREAM, chondrocytes fail to arrest proliferation. Since DREAM requires DYRK1A (dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated protein kinase 1A) phosphorylation of LIN52 for assembly, we utilized an embryonic bone culture system and pharmacologic inhibition of (DYRK) kinase to demonstrate a similar defect in endochondral bone growth. This reveals that assembly of mammalian DREAM is required to induce cell cycle exit in chondrocytes.

New Hypothesis and Theory about Functions of Sleep and Dreams

Aim: The aims of the study were: 1. revealing the new indicator(s) in internal organization of sleep in psychotic states; 2. constitution of new neurophysiologic and statistical models of sleep perturbation in psychotic states and/or altered states of consciousness based on experimental data. 3. Introduction of new sleep marker as biological marker for distinction of sleep organization by different psychotic states. 4. Established new hypothesis and theories in functions of sleep and dreams.Methods: The clinical neurophysiologic test (Polysomnography - PSG) were performed on 90 drug-free patients - 60 with depression (30 patients with reactive depression F32.0, F32.1, and 30 patients with depression with psychotic future F32.3); and 30 patients with Acute schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like states F23.1, F23.2 (all according to the DSM-IV criteria). Polysomnography was used for two nights, sleep staging (according to the criteria of Rechtschaffen & Kales, 1968) and statistical analysis of 130 sleep parameters with logistic regression (discriminative analysis “step by step”). All patients were drug-free in 3 days (1st adaptation night and 2 nights sleep investigation). The bigger part of investigation was performed in “Zentrum fuer Chronomedizin“in Wuerzburg (Germany) and one part at Psychiatric Clinic in Belgrade (Serbia).Results: 1. The results of our investigations demonstrate that the ratio between REM and NREM time in the first period of sleep (index of endogenous perturbation of sleep or IEP-P1=REM-1/NREM-1) is statistically the most significant chronobiological marker of internal sleep organization (through maturation and in different pathological states); 2. IEP-P1 is a highly reliable indicator of the development of endogenic perturbation of sleep in depression, mania, schizophrenic and other psychotic states, and in organic brain syndromes.Conclusion: IEP-P1 could be a new biological marker to distinction of sleep organization in different psychotic states and other states of altered consciousness. The developed statistical models could be the basis for new hypothesis and theories about functions of sleep and dreams.

New Hypothesis and Theory about Functions of Sleep and Dreams

Aim: The aims of the study were: 1. revealing the new indicator(s) in internal organization of sleep in psychotic states; 2. constitution of new neurophysiologic and statistical models of sleep perturbation in psychotic states and/or altered states of consciousness based on experimental data. 3. Introduction of new sleep marker as biological marker for distinction of sleep organization by different psychotic states. 4. Established new hypothesis and theories in functions of sleep and dreams.Methods: The clinical neurophysiologic test (Polysomnography - PSG) were performed on 90 drug-free patients - 60 with depression (30 patients with reactive depression F32.0, F32.1, and 30 patients with depression with psychotic future F32.3); and 30 patients with Acute schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like states F23.1, F23.2 (all according to the DSM-IV criteria). Polysomnography was used for two nights, sleep staging (according to the criteria of Rechtschaffen & Kales, 1968) and statistical analysis of 130 sleep parameters with logistic regression (discriminative analysis “step by step”). All patients were drug-free in 3 days (1st adaptation night and 2 nights sleep investigation). The bigger part of investigation was performed in “Zentrum fuer Chronomedizin“in Wuerzburg (Germany) and one part at Psychiatric Clinic in Belgrade (Serbia).Results: 1. The results of our investigations demonstrate that the ratio between REM and NREM time in the first period of sleep (index of endogenous perturbation of sleep or IEP-P1=REM-1/NREM-1) is statistically the most significant chronobiological marker of internal sleep organization (through maturation and in different pathological states); 2. IEP-P1 is a highly reliable indicator of the development of endogenic perturbation of sleep in depression, mania, schizophrenic and other psychotic states, and in organic brain syndromes.Conclusion: IEP-P1 could be a new biological marker to distinction of sleep organization in different psychotic states and other states of altered consciousness. The developed statistical models could be the basis for new hypothesis and theories about functions of sleep and dreams.

Evidence for the preferential incorporation of emotional waking-life experiences into dreams.

The continuity hypothesis of dreaming states that waking life is continuous with dreams, but many of the factors that have been postulated to influence wake–dream continuity have rarely been studied. The present study investigated whether certain factors—emotional and stressfulness intensity, and certain types of experiences— influence the likelihood of a waking-life experience being incorporated into a dream. Participants (N � 32) kept dream diaries and waking-life experience logs for 14 consecutive days, and waking-life experiences were matched to dream reports. Waking-life experiences that were incorporated into dreams were significantly more emotional, but no more stressful, than those that were not incorporated into dreams. Major daily activities were incorporated significantly less than the combination of personally significant experiences, major concerns, and novel experiences. Results are discussed in terms of dream functionality, particularly in relation to a postulated emotional memory assimilation theory of dream function.

El origen y las funciones de los sueños a partir de los potenciales PGO

El fenómeno del sueño y de los sueños es algo que siempre ha fascinado al hombre. Sin embargo, el estudio científico del sueño es relativamente reciente. En 1953, Aserinsky y Kleitman encontraron que el sueño de ondas lentas (SOL) es interrumpido periódicamente por episodios de actividad EEG rápida, que se acompañan de movimientos oculares rápidos (MORs), y denominaron a esta fase “sueño MOR”. Posteriormente, Dement y Kleitman, en 1957, descubrieron que estos movimientos oculares rápidos coinciden con la aparición de los sueños. Utilizando animales de experimentación se han estudiado los mecanismos subcorticales que subyacen al sueño MOR y se ha demostrado que éste depende de una actividad serotoninérgica de la vigilia, que promueve la formación de péptidos que ponen en marcha ciertas estructuras de la región pontina del tallo cerebral en donde se integran los mecanismos colinérgicos del sueño MOR. En la región pontina, a su vez, se generan potenciales monofásicos de alto voltaje (300-400 µV) que también pueden registrarse en el cuerpo geniculado lateral y en la corteza occipital, de allí el nombre de potenciales ponto-genículo-occipitales (PGO). Estos potenciales se propagan hacia el sistema oculomotor para provocar los MORs y posiblemente den origen a los fenómenos oníricos visuales. Además se ha demostrado que ciertas estructuras del sistema límbico, relacionadas con las emociones y la memoria, son activadas por dichos potenciales. Lo anterior sugiere que los potenciales PGO generan los componentes mnésicos y emocionales de los sueños. Quedan aún por determinarse varios aspectos sobre las funciones de estos potenciales, pero el conocimiento sobre el origen de los fenómenos cerebrales que generan los sueños ha tenido un gran avance a partir de su estudio. En el presente artículo se revisa la bibliografía concerniente a los trabajos realizados sobre los potenciales PGO y su aportación al conocimiento del origen y las funciones de los sueños.

Мечта как предмет психологического исследования

We discuss the main theoretical concepts of a dream: dream definitions, ideas about its genesis, functions, dream location in the structure of activity. We analyze the similarities and differences between the approaches. The results of empirical studies of adolescent and adult dreams are generalized, dream functions in adolescence are analyzed. Based on the analysis of different approaches, we chose theoretical basis of our own research – A. Leontiev activity theory, L.S. Vygotsky concept, K. Lewin's model. We formulated and substantiated the definition of dream as emotionally colored image of the desired future, having a subjective significance. We show the significance and hypotheses of our research: 1) the content of dreams is connected not only with a situation of frustration, but also with the teenager abilities, 2) the dream is involved in regulating of values choice; 3) restoration and development of the ability to dream can be used in the practice of counseling and psychotherapy as an effective tool to help adolescents and adults.

Supplemental Material for Psychopathological Symptoms as a Function of Trauma, Dreams, and Inhibitions

Supplemental Material for Psychopathological Symptoms as a Function of Trauma, Dreams, and Inhibitions

Psychopathological symptoms as a function of trauma, dreams, and inhibitions.

This study investigates the cumulative effects of lifetime traumatization on dream activities and the extent to which potentially traumatic events, dream variables, and inhibitory functions can predict the severities of psychopathological symptoms. The sample consisted of 564 young adults, whose dream experiences, trauma history, ego functions, and symptom manifestations were assessed using the Dream Intensity Scale, Dream Motif Scale, Traumatic Experiences Checklist, and Ko’s Mental Health Questionnaires, respectively. The 2 dream scales profile an individual’s phenomenological experience of dream activities by retrospectively quantifying some typical dream themes—such as being pursued and encountering a person whom is desired— and variables indicative of subjective dream intensity, for example, nightmare frequency, lucid dreaming frequency, and confusion between real and dreamed events. The overall results suggest that psychopathological symptoms can be predicted positively by emotional trauma, accumulated traumatic experiences, thematic dream content, and sexual suppression (resistance against activity, material, or conversation relating to sex) and negatively by repressive defensiveness (denial of negative attributes) and counterdependence (active resistance against relying on other people) with impressive effect sizes.

Autores ajuglarados y mester de clerecía : filiación retórica y temática entre el Cantar de mio Cid y el Libro de Alexandre

Autores ajuglarados y mester de clerecía : filiación retórica y temática entre el Cantar de mio Cid y el Libro de Alexandre

Dreaming is not controlled by hippocampal mechanisms

Links with the Humanities are to be welcomed, but they cannot be exempted from normal scientific criteria. Any hypothesis regarding the function of dreams that is premised on rapid eye movement (REM)/dream isomorphism is unsupportable on empirical grounds. Llewellyn's hypothesis has the further problem of counter-evidence in respect of its claim that dreaming relies upon hippocampal functions. The hypothesis also lacks face validity.

Such stuff as REM and NREM dreams are made on? An elaboration

AbstractI argued that rapid eye movement (REM) dreaming is elaborative emotional encoding for episodic memories, sharing many features with the ancient art of memory (AAOM). In this framework, during non–rapid eye movement (NREM), dream scenes enable junctions between episodic networks in the cortex and are retained by the hippocampus as indices for retrieval. The commentaries, which varied in tone from patent enthusiasm to edgy scepticism, fall into seven natural groups: debate over the contribution of the illustrative dream and disputes over the nature of dreaming (discussed in sect. R1); how the framework extends to creativity, psychopathology, and sleep disturbances (sect. R2); the compatibility of the REM dream encoding function with emotional de-potentiation (sect. R3); scepticism over similarities between REM dreaming and the AAOM (sect. R4); the function of NREM dreams in the sleep cycle (sect. R5); the fit of the junction hypothesis with current knowledge of cortical networks (sect. R6); and whether the hypothesis is falsifiable (including methodological challenges and evidence against the hypothesis) (sect. R7). Although the groups in sections R1–R6 appear quite disparate, I argue they all follow from the associative nature of dreaming.