Waking Fantasy Research Articles

Right hemisphere neural activations in the recall of waking fantasies and of dreams.

The story-like organization of dreams is characterized by a pervasive bizarreness of events and actions that resembles psychotic thought, and largely exceeds that observed in normal waking fantasies. Little is known about the neural correlates of the confabulatory narrative construction of dreams. In this study, dreams, fantasies elicited by ambiguous pictorial stimuli, and non-imaginative first- and third-person narratives from healthy participants were recorded, and were then studied for brain blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging on a 3.0-Tesla scanner while listening to their own narrative reports and attempting a retrieval of the corresponding experience. In respect to non-bizarre reports of daytime activities, the script-driven recall of dreams and fantasies differentially activated a right hemisphere network including areas in the inferior frontal gyrus, and superior and middle temporal gyrus. Neural responses were significantly greater for fantasies than for dreams in all regions, and inversely proportional to the degree of bizarreness observed in narrative reports. The inferior frontal gyrus, superior and middle temporal gyrus have been implicated in the semantic activation, integration and selection needed to build a coherent story representation and to resolve semantic ambiguities; in deductive and inferential reasoning; in self- and other-perspective taking, theory of mind, moral and autobiographical reasoning. Their degree of activation could parallel the level of logical robustness or inconsistency experienced when integrating information and mental representations in the process of building fantasy and dream narratives.

Bizarreness in dream reports and waking fantasies of psychotic schizophrenic and manic patients: Empirical evidences and theoretical consequences

Several overlapping features have frequently been described between psychosis and the subjective experience of dreaming from the neurobiological to the phenomenological level, but whether this similarity reflects the cognitive organization of schizophrenic thought or rather that of psychotic mentation independent of diagnostic categories is still unclear. In this study, 40 actively psychotic inpatients were equally divided in two age- and education-matched groups according to their diagnosis (Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder). Participants were asked to report their dreams upon awakening and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) was administered to elicit waking fantasies; the same procedure was used in a control group of 20 non-psychiatric subjects. Two highly trained judges scored the collected material according to a Dream Bizarreness scale. The same level of cognitive bizarreness was found in TAT and dream reports of schizophrenic and manic subjects but was almost completely absent in the TAT stories of the control group. Two-way analysis of variance for repeated measures assessed the effect of diagnosis and experimental conditions (TAT stories and dream reports) on bizarreness yielding a significant interaction. Cognitive bizarreness seems to be a shared feature of dreaming and psychotic mentation, beyond diagnostic categorizations. Although these findings must be considered preliminary, this experimental measure of the cognitive architecture of thought processes seems to support the view that dreaming could be a useful model for the psychoses.

Cognitive Bizarreness in the Dream and Waking Mentation of Nonpsychotic Patients With Parkinson’s Disease

Cognitive bizarreness is a shared feature of the dream and waking mentation of acutely psychotic patients. The authors investigated this measure of the structural architecture of thought in the dream and waking mentation of 20 nonpsychotic patients with Parkinson's disease after treatment with prodopaminergic drugs. Statistically overlapping levels of cognitive bizarreness were found in the waking fantasy and dream reports of the Parkinson's disease population, whereas almost no bizarreness was found in the waking cognition of the comparison group, suggesting it may be an inherent quality of cognition in Parkinson's disease patients, possibly related to the cholinergic/dopaminergic imbalance underlying this complex disorder.

The Dream as a Model for Psychosis: An Experimental Approach Using Bizarreness as a Cognitive Marker

Many previous observers have reported some qualitative similarities between the normal mental state of dreaming and the abnormal mental state of psychosis. Recent psychological, tomographic, electrophysiological, and neurochemical data appear to confirm the functional similarities between these 2 states. In this study, the hypothesis of the dreaming brain as a neurobiological model for psychosis was tested by focusing on cognitive bizarreness, a distinctive property of the dreaming mental state defined by discontinuities and incongruities in the dream plot, thoughts, and feelings. Cognitive bizarreness was measured in written reports of dreams and in verbal reports of waking fantasies in 30 schizophrenics and 30 normal controls. Seven pictures of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) were administered as a stimulus to elicit waking fantasies, and all participating subjects were asked to record their dreams upon awakening. A total of 420 waking fantasies plus 244 dream reports were collected to quantify the bizarreness features in the dream and waking state of both subject groups. Two-way analysis of covariance for repeated measures showed that cognitive bizarreness was significantly lower in the TAT stories of normal subjects than in those of schizophrenics and in the dream reports of both groups. The differences between the 2 groups indicated that, under experimental conditions, the waking cognition of schizophrenic subjects shares a common degree of formal cognitive bizarreness with the dream reports of both normal controls and schizophrenics. Though very preliminary, these results support the hypothesis that the dreaming brain could be a useful experimental model for psychosis.

Boundaries and Dreams

This article reviews and summarizes a number of published studies as well as recent unpublished work by the authors on Boundaries (Thin vs. Thick Boundaries) and various aspects of dreaming. Analysis of data by groups as well as by individuals demonstrates a surprisingly high correlation between thinness of boundaries and dream recall frequency. Thin boundaries appears to be the only personality measure clearly related to dream recall frequency. We also demonstrate a relationship between thin boundaries and dream content. Dreams of persons with thin boundaries are rated more dream-like, more emotional, and more bizarre in a number of studies. Thin boundaries are correlated especially with Central Image Intensity—a measure that is elevated in powerful dreams, dreams after traumatic events, and dreams after 9/11/01. These results strengthen our view that the “trait” continuum running from very thick boundaries at one end to very thin boundaries at the other is closely related to the “state” continuum running from focused waking activity at one end, through waking fantasy and daydreaming, to dreaming at the other end.

Daydreaming, Consciousness, and Self-Representations: Empirical Approaches to Theories of William James and Sigmund Freud

In honor of Saul Rosenzweig's lifelong efforts to provide empirical tests of psychoanalytic theories, this paper has focused on a series of research approaches to examining the concepts of William James and Sigmund Freud relating to waking fantasy, ongoing thought, and beliefs about the self. Studies involving projective methods, psychometric analyses of self-report questionnaires, laboratory tests of daydreaming during signal-detection tasks, thought-sampling during natural daily activities and psychological correlates of actual-self and ideal-self discrepancies are described. Clinical applications of these methods are also presented. The findings in general point to the value of James's conception of conscious thought as an important basis along with cognitive unconscious processes for studying clinical phenomena, personality, and even the metaphors of dreams. Rosenzweig's emphasis on formal research testing of psychoanalytic processes is supported.

The home dreams and waking fantasies of boys and girls between ages 9 and 15: A longitudinal study.

In this longitudinal developmental study, 12 boys and 12 girls provided home dreams and waking fantasies at 3 age levels: 9–11, 11–13, and 13–15. A total of 299 dreams and 286 fantasies were coded by 2 independent raters using Hall and Van de Castle (1966) content categories. In addition, word counts and bizarreness ratings were completed. There were very few changes in the dreams or waking fantasies of either boys or girls, but dream reports were longer at ages 13–15, the aggression/friendliness percent increased over the course of the study, joint-sex peer groups became more frequent, and girls showed a decline in animal percent. The tendency in a wide range of societies for men to dream mostly about other men and for women to dream equally of women and men was found in both the dreams and waking fantasies. Dreams and fantasies differed markedly, with dreams containing more outdoor and unfamiliar settings, and more bizarreness. In dreams the children tended to portray themselves as victims of aggression and recipients of friendliness, but in fantasies they took a more active role as aggressors and befrienders. It is suggested that the children in this study portrayed themselves in their dreams as they conceived of themselves in everyday life, while in their waking fantasies they imagined themselves as they would have liked to be.

Fantasizers and dissociaters: data on two distinct subgroups of deep trance subjects.

This study delineated two subgroups of highly hypnotizable subjects. The first (n = 19) entered trance rapidly, scored high on absorption, and described hypnosis as much like their rich and vivid waking fantasy life. The second subgroup of 15 took time to achieve a deep trance, saw hypnosis as very different from any prior experiences, and were more likely to exhibit amnesia for both hypnotic experience and waking fantasies.

Induced waking fantasy. Its effects upon the archetypal content of nocturnal dreams.

Induced waking fantasy. Its effects upon the archetypal content of nocturnal dreams.

The brain as a dream state generator: an activation-synthesis hypothesis of the dream process

Recent research in the neurobiology of dreaming sleep provides new evidence for possible structural and functional substrates of formal aspects of the dream process. The data suggest that dreaming sleep is physiologically determined and shaped by a brain stem neuronal mechanism that can be modeled physiologically and mathematically. Formal features of the generator processes with strong implications for dream theory include periodicity and automaticity of forebrain activation, suggesting a preprogrammed neural basis for dream mentation in sleep; intense and sporadic activation of brain stem sensorimotor circuits including reticular, oculomotor, and vestibular neurons, possibly determining spatiotemporal aspects of dream imagery; and shifts in transmitter ratios, possibly accounting for dream amnesia. The authors suggest that the automatically activated forebrain synthesizes the dream by comparing information generated in specific brain stem circuits with information stored in memory.

DAYDREAM STYLES AND SLEEP DISTURBANCE

This study investigates the relationship between individuals' styles of day-dreaming and the occurrence of two types of sleep disturbance: insomnia and nightmares. Ninety-nine college undergraduates responded to a questionnaire consisting of subscales from the Singer-Antrobus Imaginal Processes Inventory and scales measuring extent of sleep disturbance; measures of response bias and samples of volitional waking fantasy were also obtained. Correlational and factor analytic treatment of the data indicated significant direct relationships between reports of sleep disturbance and the Guilty-Dysphoric and Anxious-Distractible daydream styles; sleep disturbance was unrelated to the Positive-Vivid daydream style. A response bias interpretation appeared insufficient to explain the findings. Aspects of the daydream styles also were found in the samples of volitional waking fantasy. Broader fantasy styles emerged which extend the daydream styles into the areas of volitional fantasy, sleep disturbance, dream recall, and mood.

The Hypnotic Dream: A Reconceptualization

Abstract Hypnotic suggestions to“dream now” have been used to produce a response called the hypnotic dream. Previous research has assumed that the hypnotic dream is something over and above ordinary waking fantasy. It has attempted to demonstrate this difference from waking fantasy by comparing it with the nocturnal dream and by stressing the unique role of the“trance” in producing the hypnotic dream. However, the data have not sufficiently supported this contention. The clearest way of conceptualizing the hypnotic dream seems to be to relate it to directed fantasy. This conceptualization best fits the available data and also suggests further research which would be meaningful.