Newsgroup: it.scienza.biologia
Titolo: Cecità congenita e sogno

Coloro che sono ciechi sin dalla nascita sognano? 
E se sì, in che modo?
Producono un'attività onirica basata unicamente su sensazioni tattili,
uditive, etc.?
Nel loro sonno è identificabile una fase REM?
Saluti,
Aleph
P.S.: Forse non è il gruppo più adatto, ma non me ne venivano in mente
altri.
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 altri.
Le domande sono molto interessanti. Prova su it.discussioni.psicologia. Lì 
ti daranno sicuramente una risposta :-)
dysk 

 
non so Come sognano i ciechi, ma posso dirti che le fasi REM sono 
indispensabili per un sonno riposante perche' e' la fase in cui le 
informazioni accumilate nel cervello vengono integrate e rielabrate. 
Nelle nostre otto ore di sonno in media abbiamo circa cinque o sei fasi 
REM alternate a sonno profondo e a momenti di sonno leggero subito dopo 
una fase REM. non conosco persone cieche dalla nascita ma mi sono sempre 
interrogata anche io sulla natura dei loro sogni. Forse su it.medicina 
c'e' qualche studente di neuroscienze che puo' essere piu' esauriente

 REM alternate... 
...e almeno 4 erezioni di cui un paio della durata di ca. 30 minuti... 
infatti la mia ex diceva sempre "quanto tempo sprecato".
Ciao
-- 
Andrea
***
"Scusate, ma com'è fatta l'avena?!"
"Ma che ne so'..."
"Beh... sarà a fiocchi"
(Notte prima degli Esami - 2005)
Nessun popolo dovrebbe temere
il proprio governo.
Sono i governi che devono sempre
temere il Popolo.
(V, Vendetta - 2006)


La domanda é un po´strana. Quale sarebbe la correlazione di
necessitá  per te tra cecita e sogni? I sogni non sono neppure per chi
vede necessariamente visivi. Certo che dal punto di vista
neuropsichiatrico puo´essere un argomento interessante ma non puó
certo partire dal dubbio che i ceci non sognino perche non vedano.
Del resto tutti sognano, é indispensabile per la sopravvivenza
dell'uomo.  Se ci privano della fase REM dopo 4 giorni circa si possono
avere allucinazioni, deliri, abbassamento delle capacitá cognitive e
mnemoniche. Se non sognassimo saremmo fuori di testa e deficenti. Anche
ilmio cane sognava (in binaco e nero presumo :) )
Ciao
Andrea Zille

 vede necessariamente visivi.
i miei sono tutti "visivi", nel senso che vedo immagini tipiche della
vista.
Anche i neonati sognano? E che differenza c'e' tra il sogno di un cieco
di un neonato e di un cane?
Il caso del cane o del neonato è imo piu interessante, e confrontarlo
coi nostri sogni o quelli di un cieco aiuta a gettare luce sulla
situazione.
Per esempio, notiamo innanzitutto che un adulto cieco dalla nascita,
padroneggia un intero linguaggio, conosce storie, ha rappresentazioni
(ok, non visive), ha immagini sensibili dotate di senso. Quindi
possiamo dire piu o meno tranquillamente che sogna. Probabilmente le
sue strutture cognitive andranno a stimolare le aree relative agli
altri sensi, laddove le nostre stimolano la vista, e quindi avrà
rappresentazioni tattili, olfattive, ecc. ma non visive.
Non mi sembra un gran problema.
Ma un neonato?
Un neonato non conosce niente, non ha un linguaggio, non ha alcuna
esperienza, non sa padroneggiare alcun linguaggio simbolico, quindi non
conosce alcun tipo di rappresentazione, di immagine, zero. Non puo'
neanche avere un incubo perche ad avere paura si impara. Allora cosa
sogna?
la mia opinione è che anche stavolta noi stiamo usando un termine in
modo improprio. Usiamo "sogno" per cose diverse anche se imparentate...
e forse nel caso del neonato dovremmo usare un termine piu appropriato,
o coniarne uno nuovo, perche il nostro "sogno" potrebbe avere una
parentela troppo lontana rispetto a quello di un neonato o di un cane.
fuzzy

 sogna?
Sogna qualcosa anche se non si sa bene che cosa. In realtà il neonato alla 
nascita ha qualche esperienza sensoriale. I sensi - come è noto - si 
sviluppano durante la vita fetale. Diciamo che già alla nascita ha sentito 
alcuni suoni, come la voce della madre o quelli derivanti dalle funzioni 
fisiologiche; ha sentito l'odore ed il sapore del liquido amniotico; ha 
anche visto e vede qualcosa. Direi che ce n'è abbastanza per sognare.
Avrei qualche perplessità sulla questione della paura. Forse dovremmo 
distinguere tra l'esperienza della paura, da un lato, e l'associazione tra 
lo stimolo minaccioso ed il conseguente comportamento, dall'altro. Cioè 
credo che ciò che si impara non è la paura in sé, ma per esempio il fatto 
che un leone mi potrebbe sbranare e quindi non è il caso di avvicinarsi. Se 
ciò è corretto, allora anche un neonato può avere un incubo, nel senso di un 
sogno che genera il vissuto della paura.
dysk 

 
Usiamo "sogno" per cose diverse anche se imparentate...
forse tu. io uso sogno per indicare le rielaborazioni del cevello in 
fase REM con attivita' elettreica caratterizzata da onde alfa.

della voce della mamma che lo rassicura.
Un neonato entro i 3-4 mesi non sa neanche cos'e' una mamma (se gliela
cambi neanche se ne accorge), ne sa cos'e' "rassicurazione" o "voce".
fuzzy

 ...mentre tu sembri esporre delle apodissi.
????


 sensi.
Immagino sia pressoché impossibile figurarsi le percezioni oniriche dei
soggetti "non vedenti" congeniti, ma a me interessava capire se la 
supposizione, apparentemente intuitiva, secondo cui tali soggetti non
hanno mai percezioni visive, neppure in sogno, era fondata o no.
Crecando in rete ho trovato dei riferimenti a studi recenti in base ai
quali sembra, inaspettatamente per me, che l'attività onirica dei soggetti
non vedenti congeniti si assocuiata a un certo livello di percezione
visiva: 
http://www.uv.es/revispsi/articulos1.05/12-BERTOLO.pdf
(non l'ho ancora letto ma sembra comprensibile).
Mi chiedo anche se la patologia che determina la perdita congenita della
funzione visiva faccia qualche differenza o no.
A esempio: un soggetto non vedente che manifesta danni congeniti
irreversibili ai nervi ottici o ai bulbi oculari, ma che ha la corteccia
visiva integra, sognerà allo stesso modo di un soggetto che ha la
corteccia visiva danneggiata, ma occhi normali?  
Mi sembra di ricordare che durante la fase REM del sonno la corteccia
visiva si attivi come durante la visione e lo stesso movimento rapido
degli occhi è connesso probabilmente alla "simulazione" di un'attività
visiva.
Se è così come farebbe un soggetto con la coteccia visiva compromessa ad
avere percezioni visive, sia pure durante il sonno?
Saluti,
Aleph


 sogno che genera il vissuto della paura.
la tua distinzione pero' non mi sembra molto convincente.
La paura è necessariamente legata alla salvaguardia di se stessi, ma
per dediderare di salvaguardarsi bisogna avere il concetto di "se", la
coscienza della propria identità ("IO"). Il neonato non c'e' l'ha,
tanto è vero che davanti a un pericolo non reagirebbe punto, perche
non sa ne che cos'e' un "pericolo", ne cos'e' lui stesso.
Se fosse come dici te, cosa sarebbe mai allora la paura "in se" (ovvero
dissociata dall'esperienza)?
ciao
fuzzy

 fuzzy
Questo concetto a mio avviso é profondamente errato perché la paura
non é necessariamente solo legata alla salvaguardia di se stessi e
questa non necessariamente e´ legata alla paura  Molte azioni di
salvaguardia sono azioni istintive che non dipendono assolutamente dal
concetto di "se" (poi cosa intendi con questo dovresti spiegarlo meglio
perche' io per esempio lo identifico con il processo biologico e tu
psicologico immagino che é molto piú sfumato e graduale).
Ciao
Andrea Zille

 fuzzy
Ciao
dysk

 dysk
ciao :)
fuzzy

 fuzzy
Ciao :-)
dysk
P.S.: un dettaglio tecnico. Il mio newsreader non riesce a fare il quoting
automatico dei tuoi post, quindi devo farlo manualmente. Mi scuso in
anticipo per qualche possibile errore :-) 

 anticipo per qualche possibile errore :-)
una bella scocciatura! neanche il mio lo fa, per cui uso sempre, ormai
da anni,
il browser, e adesso google-gruppi.

 il browser, e adesso google-gruppi.
Fra l'altro, a me succede solo con i tuoi post e con quelli di pochissimi
altri. Non so da che cosa dipenda. Come hai scritto questo post? Io ho usato
Outloook.


e del padre.
La mia esperienza di papà conferma quanto dice dyskolos.
Quando mia moglie era incinta di mia figlia, spesso accarezzandole la pancia 
parlavo alla bimba (nascitura).
In sala parto sono entrato anch'io. Dopo un lungo travaglio. l'ostetrica mia 
ha messo nelle mani mia figlia, ancora tutta sporca della vernice casearia: 
piangeva, come tutti i bimbidi questo mondo, ma si è calmata subito appena 
le ho parlato: evidentemente sentiva una voce conosciuta...
(Al di là di tutto un ricordo stupendo...)
-- 
Ambrogio
Quale utilità ricava l'uomo da tutto l'affanno per cui fatica sotto il sole?

 Quale utilità ricava l'uomo da tutto l'affanno per cui fatica sotto il sole?
Dipende che fa sotto il sole :-)
ciao
fuzzy

Comunque secondo desmond morris i gatti sognano la caccia
Ma se non lo sapremo mai, allora Morris che c'ha la
(almeno una) palla di vetro? 
fuzzy

 Non lo sapremo mai, eppero' sognano... :-)
Bé in realta sappiamo identificare i segnali celebrali, fisiologici e
metabolici che corrispondono alla fase del sogno. Cioé sappiamo che si
sta sognando ma non sappiamo cosa. Credo che ladybat stia dicendo
questo. Per quanto mi riguarda le due affermazioni non fanno a cazzoti
ma sono due concetti ben distinti.
Ciao
Andrea Zille

 (almeno una) palla di vetro? 
Scena: gatto Arafat e' andato a caccia tutta la mattina in giardino, 
puntando un nido di gazze e ricevendo un sano mobbing dagli uccelli in 
difensiva. Poi si e' azzuffato con Charlie, il gatto grigio senza coda, 
e con l'intruso nero che viene a fare pipi' in giardino. Nel pomeriggio, 
durante il meritato riposo del guerriero, muove rapidamente gli occhi, 
ringhia, soffia, rizza il pelo e muove le zampe a scatti come se 
saltasse e corresse. Secondo te sta sognando di avere una doppia razione 
di whiskas nella ciotola?

 (Al di là di tutto un ricordo stupendo...)
Non faccio farica a crederlo. A proposito, come sta la bimba (ammettendo che 
sia ancora una "bimba")?
dysk 

 di fare polemica, prova su it.litigi
C'é bisogno di una precisazione. In biologia non esiste ancora una
teoria conclusiva sul sogno. In realta´neppure sul fatto che la fase
REM sia l'unico momento in cui si sogna. Infatti normalmente si associa
a questa i sogni perche´essendo una fase di sonno leggero é
piu´facile ricordarli. Certo che é la teoria piu´accettata e con
piu´evidenze che si ha finora e per lo meno si é certi che si sogna
durante questa fase. Si sa che durante il sonno ci sono varie fasi
cicliche in cui compaiono onde beta, alfa e theta attenuate rispetto
alla veglia....non solo alfa quindi che possono essere rilevate anche
solo chiudendo gli occhi da svegli. Si sa ancora che durante il sonno
é prodotto un allucinogeno la dimethyltryptamine.
Il discorso puó diventare pancora piú ostico se si considerano gli
animali. La fase REM e´stata osservata solo nei mammiferi e negli
uccelli con enormi variazioni (l'ornitorinco ha una fase REM di quasi 8
ore quando invece il defino quasi non ne ha).
É certo invece che nell'uomo il sogno é in stretta correlazione con
l'apprendimento la crescita dell'intelletto, é una sorta di
riordinamento della mente per il consolidamento delle
''piste''neuroniche della memoria e dell' apprendimento. La formazione
e lo screening delle connessioni neuroniche é quindi di fondamentale
importanza e spiega anche perché i neonati passano l80% del loro sonno
in fase REM tornando la teoria della REM/Sogno ancora piu´credibile.
Ciao
Andrea Zille

 durante questa fase. 
[cut]
giuste precisazioni. hai referenze da darmi sulle fasi rem degli altri 
vertebrati?

ladybat escreveu:

Certo che si!
Ciao
Andrea Zille
Libri:
Sleep: A Comprehensive Handbook
Written By Lee-Chiong, Teofilo L.
Published By Wiley in 2005
Sleep and Dreaming: Scientific Advances and Reconsiderations
Written By Pace-Schott, Edward F.; Solms, Mark; Blagrove, Mark; Harnad,
Stevan
Published By Cambridge University Press in 2003
Sleep: Circuits and Functions
Written By Pierre-Herv? Luppi, Ph.D.
Published By Taylor & Francis in 2005
Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy: Evolution and Adaptation
Written By Ann B. Butler; William Hodos
Published By Wiley in 2005
Papers:
Rattenborg, N.C.
Evolution of slow-wave sleep and palliopallial connectivity in mammals
and birds: A hypothesis
(2006) Brain Research Bulletin, 69 (1), pp. 20-29.
Siegel, J.M.
Clues to the functions of mammalian sleep
(2005) Nature, 437 (7063), pp. 1264-1271.
Staunton, H.
Mammalian sleep
(2005) Naturwissenschaften, 92 (5), pp. 203-220.
Kavanau, J.L.
Evolutionary approaches to understanding sleep
(2005) Sleep Medicine Reviews, 9 (2), pp. 141-152.
Garau, C., Aparicio, S., Rial, R.V., Esteban, S.
The evolution of sleep: birds at the crossroads between mammals and
reptiles [La evolucio´n del suen~o: las aves en la encrucijada entre
mami´feros y reptiles.]
(2005) Revista de neurologia, 40 (7), pp. 423-430.
Blumberg, M.S., Karlsson, K.Æ., Seelke, A.M.H., Mohns, E.J.
The ontogeny of mammalian sleep: A response to Frank and Heller (2003)
(2005) Journal of Sleep Research, 14 (1), pp. 91-98.
Frank, M.G., Heller, H.C.
The ontogeny of mammalian sleep: A reappraisal of alternative
hypotheses
(2003) Journal of Sleep Research, 12 (1), pp. 25-34.

 di whiskas nella ciotola?
La mia o la tua opinione contano un cavolo. e tre! Ci vogliono studi.
Per correttezza dovresti dire che non si sa, e che potremmo forse
ipotizzare che sta provando qualcosa di analogo (e ripeto analogo,
non identico) al nostro sogno. E dovresti aggiungere che queste
rimangono
almeno per ora pure illazioni. Questo è lo state of art.
Questo dovresti dire se avessi interesse a pensare correttamente.
Ma  siccome il tuo interesse è solo quello di darmi sempre contro,
cerca almeno di essere un po' piu preparata quando rispondi ai
miei post, ti eviti queste figure patetiche. 
fuzzy

 Porta prove concrete, non deduzioni e altre leggende metropolitane.
Ma come no, scusa?!? ;-)
Mi smonti decine e decine di lezioni dei miei ex professori di 
neurofisiologia... forse è per quello che non mi piacevano affatto ste 
materie. ;-)
Cmq se riesco a far riemergere dal limbo soffittesco il mio vecchio 
libro di fisiologia umana, copio la parte che ne parla, ovviamente con i 
riferimenti di autori ed editore.


fuzzy
Aristotele? ipse dixit...
questa credo invece si tratti di una affermazione apodittica...
che richiede una dimostrazione
con amicizia
-- 


 materie. ;-)
Forse è perche non ti piacevano che non hai seguito bene le lezioni.
:-))
Dubito fortemente che abbiano detto le cose superficiali che ripete
ladybat.
copio incollo prima io
"Abbiamo ritenuto a lungo che il sogno fosse appannaggio della fase
REM: che in REM si producano sogni vividi ed evocativi è indiscusso.
[mentre non è dimostrato il contrario].
Grazie ai lavori sul processo onirico effettuati da Solms (1995, 1997)
e da Kaplan-Solms (2000) oggi sappiamo che il sonno REM e l'attività
onirica appartengono a differenti strutture anatomiche e che i
meccanismi fondamentali del sognare non sono regolati dalle strutture
cerebrali profonde del tronco encefalico, le quali invece regolano i
meccanismi fisiologici del sonno REM, ma da aree del cervello anteriore
ed in particolare della parte inferiore dei lobi parietali e di quella
medio-basale dei lobi frontali."
Cioe' esattamente quello che ho scritto: non c'e' rapporto biunivoco
tra REM e sogno, no solo a livello fenomenologico, ma neanche
fisiologico.
Per non parlare poi delle "Le allucinazioni ipnagogiche", e quelle
"ipnopompiche" che col REM non c'entrano un piffero, e che sono xmq
stati oniroidi.
Ulteriore conferma:
"Successivamente si è appurato che una certa attività onirica esiste
anche in fase NREM:
Bosinelli (1982), Bosinelli e Cicogna (1991), Foulkes (1962, 1985),
hanno dimostrato la presenza di un'attività mentale del tutto
comparabile a quella che si registra in fase REM anche nelle fasi NREM
e nell'addormentamento."
Nota bene le espressioni "certa fase onirica" e "attività mentale
comparabile...". Sono espressioni caute. Non dogmi come quelli che
enunciati ieraticamente Lb. dopo aver letto Focus.
J .A. Hobson scrive «appare chiaro che il sogno è l'accompagnamento
psicologico di un processo fisiologico instaurato, e che molti aspetti
formali del sogno sono isomorficamente
confrontabili con processi cerebrali concomitanti» [3].
Ancora nota "accompagnamento", e i processi cerebrali posso essere
confrontati in modo **isomorfico**, ad ***ALCUNI aspetti formali*** dei
sogni. Ma qui non si parla di banale identificazione processi celebrali
= sogno. Capisci la sottile differenza?
Significa che non puoi dire semplicemente che quando sei in presenza di
onde alfa ALLORA stai sognando, perche dici una castroneria,
superficiale e indimostrata.
Rimane sempre sul banco, poi, la questione semantica: dire che ho
sognato anche se non ne ho il benche minimo ricordo, è una distorsione
tutta da discutere. In pratica sto cambiando il significato comune
della parola sogno, con cui si designano quelle rappresentazioni che
abbiamo la notte PERCHE le ricordiamo. Mentre dire che _hai sognato
anche se non ricordi_ solo perche hai un attività elettrica-encefalica
simile al sogno, non lo trovo corretto, perche' non puoi asserire
l'esistenza di rappresentazioni se esse non sono esperite da nessuno.
L'attività elettrica è una cosa, una serie di rappresentazioni è
un'altra. Ma di nuovo non c'e' alcuna prova di biunivocità, ne ci puo
essere.
Ti ho già spiegato che la riduzione della mente al cervello non è
affatto pacifica. Ma tu continui ad ignorare questi aspetti...
ciao
fuzzy

 dysk
la bimba ha 18 anni, scoppia di salute e di voglia di vivere...
sta facendo l'ultimo anno delle superiori e comincia a pensare 
all'università.
Noi, mia moglie e io, stiamo facendo le formichine per mettere da parte, 
perchè dopo di lei ci sono altri due maschi, anche loro con la voglia di 
fare l'università...
ciao a tutti


 affatto pacifica. Ma tu continui ad ignorare questi aspetti...
Beh, però l'antropomorfizzazione della "bella molecolona" è uno script 
di classe ed è molto efficace, non trovi?


 é prodotto un allucinogeno la dimethyltryptamine.
Da ignorante in materia ho sempre pensato che il nostro cervello sia
talmente bisognoso di continui stimoli esterni da produrseli in casa
quando scarseggino (come durante il sonno). 
Ricordo il caso di alcuni terroristi tedeschi della RAF (Rote Armee
Fraktion, Frazione Armata Rossa) che negli anni '70 furono sottoposti a un
regime di isolamento talmente spinto da provocare allucinazioni anche
durante la veglia e determinare danni alla vista e al tatto (un po' come
se il non utilizzo prolungato dei sensi li danneggiasse). Anche gli
esperimenti di deprivazione sensoriale compiuti negli anni '70 negli Usa
mostrarono nei soggetti esaminati la comparsa di allucinazioni durante la
veglia (Un'idea dei dispositivi utilizzati in queste sperimentazioni,
simili a vasche chiuse e insonorazzate contenenti acqua a temperatura
corporea, sono mostrati nel film "Stati di Allucinazione" di Ken Russel). 


Andrea Zille ha scritto:
...e cmq sono tutti studi sul sonno, e non tematicamente sui sogni.
ciao
fuzzy


 Andrea
 ciao
fuzzy

 ...sarebbero i sogni zozzi?? ;-))
se no lo ricordi, chi lo sa? pero' se dopo hai una



I primi due libri trattano esaustivamente anche i sogni. 
Ciao
Andrea

Non confondiamo pero´ la definizione biologica dalla definizione
psicologica perche' mi pare che alcuni stiano mescolando le cose.
Riporto due capitoli  del  libro che ho  qui con me (SLEEP: A
COMPREHENSIVE HANDBOOK). Li divido in due post (bilogico e
psicologico). E ringraziatemi di averlo in PDF e di postarlo e non
scagliatevi invece contro di me perche' non vi faccio un riassunto in
Italiano (si é vero mi e' sucesso anche questo).
Ciao
Andrea Zille
BIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF DREAMING
Observations by Aserinsky and Kleitman [1, 2] identified
that there were episodic bursts of rapid eye movements
during sleep associated with dreaming, and Dement
and Kleitman [3] showed that there was a particular
electroencephalographic (EEG) pattern associated with
these periods of rapid eye movements, which recurred regularly
during the night. This combination of bursts of conjugate
rapid eye movements and a relatively low-voltage
mixed-frequency EEG with muscle atonia [4] has been
designated rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. It is this correlation
of dreaming with a specific, identifiable EEG pattern
that became the focus for the efforts to describe the
physiological processes that are the biological basis for
the dreaming process. Furthermore, interest in the biological
basis of mental function in psychoanalysis reflects
Freud's conviction [5] that psychology will have a physiological
basis. This leads to the idea that the current neuroscience
approach may provide a way to bridge the
mind/brain divide.
There are currently only two competing theories, from a
neuroscience point of view, of the functional anatomy of
dreaming. The activation-synthesis theory of Hobson and
collaborators [6] has been extended into their activation
information modulation (AIM) space state model, which
is still a bottom-up, subcortical brainstem view of the origin
and content of dreaming. The source for the initiation of
dreaming is in the pons, which sends random signals to
the cortex. The cortex responds passively to the pontine signals
in that its response is determined by these random
signals. The cortex elaborates the dream experience, making
the best of a bad job. The content of the dream experience is
shaped by affect in the dream [7]. The model for dreaming
is the verbal output seen in the productions of demented
patients.
The competing view of a brain-based theory of dreaming
has been that articulated by Solms [8]. This theory is based
on a clinicoanatomical approach, brain lesions, using
neuropsychological
techniques. It is allegedly a top-down, cortically
based theory. Any stimulus that activates the brain
can initiate the dreaming process. It requires engaging the
ventral tegmental area of Tsai, whose fibers pass through
the ventromedial prefrontal area adjacent to the anterior
horns of the ventricles.
In order to appreciate the value and, more importantly,
the limitations of the neuroscience approach to dreaming,
it is worthwhile to review the two theories [6-8]. They
have major points of difference.
The orientation in the activation-synthesis (A-S) AIM
(activation information modulation) space state model [6]
toward dreaming is:
1. that dreaming is coextensive with REM sleep;
2. that the model for the experience of dreaming is
dementia;
3. that the stimulus for cortical activation is random discharges
from the pons in what has been described as
pontogeniculo-occipital (PGO) waves;
4. that the cortical response to the PGO waves is a relatively
passive one; and
5. the content of the dream is shaped by the affect in the
dream.
Dreaming is defined in the A-S theory [6] as ''mental
activity occurring in sleep which is characterized by vivid
sensorimotor imagery, that is experienced as waking reality,
despite such distinctly cognitive features as impossibility or
improbability of time, place, person, and actions; emotions,
especially fear, elation, and anger predominate over sadness,
shame, and guilt and sometimes reach sufficient
strength to cause awakening, memory for even vivid dreams
is evanescent and tends to fade quickly unless special steps
are taken to retain it.'' This definition captures, Hobson
believes, what people mean by dreaming and serves both
psychological and cognitive neuroscience.
In the A-S theory [6], differences among REM, non-
REM, and wake mentation will be explained by the distinctive
physiology of REM sleep. REM sleep is related to
dreaming because:
''Dream reports are more likely to be reported from a
REM awakening than a non-REM awakening (80%
versus 40%);
Dream recall decreases quickly after the REM period
ends;
The word count of the dream report correlates positively
with REM time and external stimuli are appropriately
incorporated into the time sequence of the dreaming
narrative;
Judges can tell REM reports from non-REM reports; and
Qualitatively there are REM/non-REM report differences.
REM reports are generally longer, more vivid,
with more movement and emotion and are less related
to waking life. Non-REM is more thought like.''
The aspects of REM dreaming that are rare in non-REM
according to A-S theory [6] include:
''The hallucinatory nature of the experience;
That the images change rapidly and are often bizarre;
The delusional nature of the experience;
The decreased self-reflection;
The creation of a confabulatory narrative;
The effect of instinctual programs such as fight/flight that
organize the cognition; and
The attenuated volitional control.''
These features of dreaming, A-S theory [6] holds, will
be explained by the distinctive biology of REM sleep.
The A-S theory postulates an isomorphism between the
biology and psychology of dreaming, which reflects either
a similarity (biological meaning of isomorphism) or an
identity (mathematical meaning) between the two. It is a
highly reductionistic theory that explains the experience
of dreaming by its biology.
The control of REM dreaming [6] is described anatomically,
physiologically, cellularly, and chemically. The anatomic
control is in the pons; therefore it is subcortical, that
is, in the brainstem. Physiologically, it is represented by
PGO waves from the pons to the lateral geniculate body to
the occipital cortex. At the cellular level in the pons, the
REM-on cells are in the mesopontine tegmentum. The
REM-off cells are in the nucleus locus caeruleus and dorsal
raphe nucleus. The chemical control of dreaming is a consequence
of REM-on cells secreting acetylcholine, while the
REM-off cells secrete norepinephrine and serotonin.
The AIM space state model of the A-S hypothesis [6]
shows in a three-dimensional model the change in activation
during dreaming sleep from low to high; while the
information source shifts from external to internal; and
the modulation shifts from high norepinephrine and serotonin
to high acetylcholine.
The activation of various brain areas in A-S theory [6] is
somewhat in this order:
1. ''There is stimulus from the pontine and the midbrain
reticular activating circuits and nuclei. This
leads to an ascending arousal of multiple forebrain
structures. The contribution to the dream experience
is consciousness, eye movements, and motor pattern
information via the PGO system.''
2. ''Diencephalic structures (e.g., hypothalamus and
basal forebrain) are activated involving autonomic
and instinctual (fight/flight) functions, and cortical
arousal. The contribution to dreaming is to further
support consciousness and provide instinctual elements.''
3. ''Anterior limbic structures are active including the
amygdala, anterior cingulate, parahippocampal cortex,
hippocampus, and medial frontal areas. This
contributes emotional labeling of stimuli, goal directed
behavior, and movements. This activation contributes
to the dream's emotionality, affective salience,
and movement.''
4. ''The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is inactive during
dreaming. This area is involved with executive functions,
logic, and planning. This would explain in the
dream the absence of volition, logic, orientation, and
working memory.''
5. ''The basal ganglia become active. They are
involved in the initiation of motor actions. In the
dream, they may account for the initiation of fictive
movement.''
6. ''The thalamic nuclei become active, for example,
the lateral geniculate nucleus that would be involved
in the relay of sensory and pseudosensory information
to the cortex. For the dream experience, it transmits
PGO information to the cortex.''
7. ''Primary motor and sensory cortices are blocked.
Therefore, sensory percepts and motor commands
do not occur.''
8. ''The inferior parietal cortex is stimulated. This area
is involved in the spatial integration of processed
heteromodal input. It provides the spatial organization
for the dream.''
9. ''The visual associational cortex becomes active and
involves the higher order integration of visual percepts
and images.''
10. ''The cerebellum is activated and is involved in fine
tuning of movement and in vestibular function and
contributes fictive movement to the dream.''
In the A-S theory, dreaming is generated by the random
output of the brainstem and passively synthesized by the
forebrain. The cortex, it is said, makes the best of a bad
job. Dementia is the model for the dream.
The forebrain or cortical theory of Solms [8] is based on
a clinicoanatomical approach in patients with localized
brain lesions, utilizing neuropsychological techniques to
specify the functional deficiency and CT scanning to confirm
the lesion site. Dreaming is explained as a top-down
process despite the nuclei of Tsai being subcortical.
Solms observed that ''there was a reported loss of the
experience of dreaming in patients who had either (1) a
bilateral mediobasal frontal cortex lesion involving fibers
from the ventral tegmental area of Tsai, an appetitive center
which is the source of seeking, wishing/desiring behavior;
or (2) a lesion of the inferior parietal area of either side of
the brain which on the right involves spatial orientation and
on the left involves symbolic activity. Those individuals
who reported they had lost the experience of dreaming
were those who also reported poorer sleep. In those patients
with a lesion in the parieto-temporo-occipital association
region, the visual elements in dreaming are lost as well as
the ability to create visual images from memory while
awake.''
Dreaming is not assumed to be REM sleep dependent in
the cortical theory [6, 8]. ''Dreaming is thought to be
initiated by an arousing stimulus; such as REM sleep, seizures,
or noise. This activation stimulates circuits that arise
from cell groups in the ventral tegmental area of Tsai. It is a
dopaminergic system. It is connected to frontal and limbic
structures. The ventral tegmental area of Tsai circuits
instigate goal-seeking behavior. It is the wanting, wishing
command system. Anterior limbic structures block
transmission, which interrupts goal directed behavior
(e.g., voluntary motor activity) and facilitates 'back projection'
processes. The dorso-lateral cortex (the voluntary
executive center) and primary visual cortices (the site for
perception) are inhibited. The inferior parietal cortices
become active and provide the spatial (right side) and symbolic
(left side) aspects of dreaming. Lastly, the occipital
association areas provide memories of perceptions from
which the imagery of dreaming is constructed.''
For Solms [8] dreaming does not isomorphically reflect
simple activation of perceptual and motor areas, as these
are not activated during dreaming. The imagery of dreaming
is not just reproduced, it is constructed each time from
memory. Dreaming is not REM bound.
What particularly are the limitations in the A-S hypothesis
[6]? Is the A-S theorists' particular definition of the
dream representative of the dreaming process? Dreaming
is defined in the A-S theory as ''vivid, sensorimotor imagery,
experienced as waking reality, despite it being
improbable or impossible at times, and emotions are seen
as prominent.'' This is a highly selective and arbitrary definition
of dreaming. Nielsen [9] points out that there is a
continuum of cognitive experiences during sleep from socalled
apex dreaming, to regular dreaming, to cognitive
activity (often called sleep mentation), to cognitive processes.
There is no generally accepted or standardized definition.
The position put forth by the A-S theorists, that their
definition captures what people mean by dreaming and that
it serves both psychology and cognitive neuroscience, is
questionable. Taub and colleagues [10] have shown that
what people say they think a nightmare is like and what
they report as a personal nightmare experience are clearly
differentiable. The concept of nightmare (e.g., what people
think nightmares are like) is more intense, better constructed,
and reported in fewer words than their own nightmare
experience. A definition of dreaming needs to be
made on an empirical basis rather than out of opinions
about what it is or is not. Utilizing idealized versions
of experience may be suitable for literary undertakings
but not for scientific ones either in psychology or in the
neurosciences.
The assumptions by the A-S hypothesis theorists [6] that
dreaming is coextensive with REM sleep has been widely
challenged. Solms [11] has pointed out that dreaming and
REM sleep are doubly dissociated; not all REM sleep yields
a dream report, and dream reports can be recovered from
non-REM sleep. Furthermore dreaming may not even be
sleep bound as both Foulkes and Fleisher [12] and Kripke
and Sonnenschein [13] have collected dream reports from
subjects who were awake.
The position that dreaming is the result of the activity
of the pontine generator for REM sleep is challenged by
the clinicoanatomical studies of Solms [8]. He reports
that patients with core brainstem lesions, which would
have prevented the PGO wave from reaching the cortex
and who are hypoaroused while awake, continued to report
dreaming.
The idea that the model for the dream experience is the
output of the demented brain is related to the description of
the physiologic process that A-S theorists assume underlies
dreaming. In this view, random discharges from the pons,
so-called PGO waves, stimulate cortical structures that do
the best they can to organize these chaotic stimuli and the
results are hallucinations and narratives that are poorly
organized, confabulated, and easily forgotten, allegedly
like the experiences of the demented awake. The cortex
makes the best of a bad job. However, Snyder [14] has
pointed out, based on his large series of laboratorycollected
dreams, that it is the dreams mundane nature
that best characterizes them, rather than their being impossible
or improbable. Heynick [15], in a systematic analysis
of speech reported as part of the content of the dream
experience, observes how well constructed the speech in
dreams is from a grammatical and syntactical point of
view. Apparently our linguistic capacity during dreaming
operates with surprising efficiency and is capable of generating
well-formed, often syntactically complex sentences.
Kramer [16] has shown that dream content is highly
ordered and where we know there are psychological differences
there are dream content differences. This is true at the
group level as demographic variables such as gender, age,
race, marital status, and social class show dream content
differences as do psychiatric illnesses. The dreams of
schizophrenics are different from those of the depressed.
Dream content is highly ordered at the individual level
as well, [16] and dream content varies across the REM period,
and from REM period to REM period throughout the
night. The dreams of one individual are different from
those of another. Within an individual, dreams are different
night to night, but there is a content correlation from night
to night such that across 20 nights of laboratory-collected
dreams, night 19 correlates 0.8 with night 20. Dreams are
more predictive night to night than the physiology of
sleep [17]. Dreaming is ordered, not chaotic, and certainly
not random.
The assumption that the cortical response to PGO stimulation
is a relatively passive one underpins the conviction
that the form of the dream will be determined by the physiological
stimulus and the dream will be isomorphic with
the determining physiology-PGO waves. Pivik [18] has
concluded from a review of the psychophysiological studies
of dreaming that there is a ''general absence of robust
psychophysiological
relationships between tonic levels of
physiological activity and sleep mentation''; and that
''studies. . . were unable to demonstrate a consistent correlation
of phasic activity with the qualitative aspects of sleep
mentation.'' Pivik's conclusions contradict any suggestion
of isomorphism, a central tenant of the A-S hypothesis.
Furthermore, as the sensorimotor cortices are not activated
during dreaming and the association areas are activated, the
images experienced during dreaming are constructed each
time and are not the result of perception-thus decreasing
the likelihood of an isomorphic relationship between the
physiological and psychological aspects of dreaming.
Reiser [19] along with Hobson [7] are of the opinion
''that emotion is a prominent part of the dream experience
and that it plays a role in generating and shaping both the
process and the content of dreaming.'' Dream content studies
[20-22] have not found emotions to be an inevitable
part of the dream experience. Hall and Van de Castle [20]
found emotions in at most 56% of spontaneously reported
dreams of men and 84% of the dreams of women. Strauch
and Meier [21] noted that emotion was present in about half
of laboratory-reported dream experiences. Kramer and Brik
[22] found emotions reported in at most 37% of the laboratory-
collected dreams of men. Kramer, in his selective
affective theory of dream function [23], suggests that it is
the change in emotion from pre-sleep to post-sleep that is
related to dream content.
In summary, the specific critiques of the A-S hypothesis
of dreaming [6] include: the recognition of the limited and
arbitrary nature of the definition of dreaming; doubt cast on
the idea that dementia is an appropriate model for dreaming;
the evidence that REM sleep and the dreaming experience
are not coextensive; the work showing that dreaming
is not isomorphic with REM sleep; the observations that
emotion in the dream may not be the shaper of dream
experience; and that the narrative nature of the dream is
not explained.
The anatomical cortical theory of Solms [8] is offered as
a top-down theory. It, too, is not able to predict the content
of the dream from the pattern of neuronal activation. It may
be helpful to review aspects of the theory to see how it compares
to the A-S hypothesis and in what way it may lend
anatomic support to Freudian dream theory [5]. Reiser
[19], however, has advised that we not look to the neurosciences
to confirm or refute Freud. In his clinicoanatomical
approach, Solms [8]:
1. Places the initiation of the dreaming process in a
subcortical area related to goal-seeking behavior of
an appetitive sort and not in the pons as in A-S theory
(this suggests the Freudian wish fulfilling motive
force).
2. Calls attention to the blocking of access to the sensorimotor
cortex by anterior limbic structures leading to a
backward (regressive) movement in dream formation
(suggesting both the Freudian censor in the block and
topographical regression).
3. Points out that it is the visual association areas that are
activated during dreaming, not the primary visual cortex,
and therefore images are constructed from memory
and are not perceptions, making the isomorphism
postulated by A-S theory less likely.
4. Recognizes that both spatial and symbolic activities
are involved in dreaming, while A-S theory incorporates
but does not address this issue.
5. Notes the loss of dreaming occurring in those who
complain of sleep problems (suggesting the possible
sleep protective function of dreaming).
6. Observes that dreaming is actively constructed and
not passively elaborated (suggesting the Freudian
dream work).
Hobson, Pace-Schott, and Stickgold [6] provide a telling
and detailed critique of the anatomical cortical theory [8].
''They point out the limitations of lesion studies, for example,
the recovery across time of the lost function raises
questions about the role of the damaged brain area as essential
to the transiently lost function. They wonder if REM
awakening studies are the basis for the claim of lost dreaming
(which they are not), as spontaneous memory of dreaming
would be an inadequate test. They question the support
Solms seeks from the leucotomy literature for the role of
the medio-basal prefrontal area in dream initiation. Not
all leucotomy patients, for example, reported the loss of
dreaming. The surgery could well have interfered with
the recovery of intrapsychic experiences. The surgery
could well have destroyed connections to subcortical
limbic structures as well as those from [the] ventral
tegmental area. They see the role of dopamine in dreaming
as problematic. They point out that dopamine has been
reported as both inhibiting dreaming and enhancing it.''
The cortical theory is a reductive theory that also poses
biology as explaining the psychological experiences of
dreaming, but less so than A-S theory. It does not address,
anymore than the A-S theory did, the narrative aspects of
dreaming.
What we want to know about dreaming begins with our
desire to know the content of the dream experience. Dream
content is the base for our search for what the dream experience
means, what it is made of, how it is constructed, and
what it accomplishes. The functional anatomical explanations
or the descriptions of the secretions from various
cells of neurotransmitters or neuromodulators contribute little,
if anything, to answer our questions about the content,
meaning, construction, or function of the dream experience.
As McGuinn [24] has so elegantly pointed out, there are
no transduction rules to go from the discharge of neurons in
the central nervous system or from the secretions of neurons
to the concomitant mental states. He is so pessimistic
as to doubt that we have the intellectual tools to develop
such a system. The biological dream theories cannot provide
us with the content of dreams, the meaning of dreams,
the construction of dreams, or the function of dreaming.
They cannot address the differences in the content of the
dream experience among individuals or within an individual
night to night. These theories do not address the
semantics or pragmatics of dreaming; they limit themselves,
at best, to the syntax of dreaming.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The mind/brain problem has not been resolved by the biological
approaches to dreaming. It is not that biology is
uninteresting, it simply does not answer the questions
that are asked. Biology does not address the meaning
of behavior or the goal-directed nature of behavior, nor
does it explain the nature of experience (Qualia). The problem
of consciousness is not illuminated. The explanatory
gap between biology (body) and consciousness (mind)
remains.
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ADDITIONAL READING
Chalmers D. Facing up to the problem of consciousness. J
Consciousness Studies 2:200-219(1995).
Edelman G.Wider than the Sky. Yale University Press, New Haven,
CT, 2004.
Foulkes D. Children's Dreaming and the Development of
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Hobson A. Dreaming. Oxford University Press, New York, 2002.
Kendler K. A psychiatric dialogue on the mind-body problem. Am
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Kramer M. Sigmund Freud's ''The Interpretation of Dreams'':
the
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Levine L. Materialism and qualia: the explanatory gap. Pacific
Philos Quarterly 64:354-361(1983).
Metzinger T. (Ed). Conscious Experience. Allen Press, Lawrence,
KS, 1995.
Searle J. Consciousness and Language. Cambridge University
Press, New York, 2002.
Panksepp J. Affective Neuroscience. Oxford University Press, New
York, 1998.

PSYCHOLOGY OF DREAMING
The traditional interest in the dream experience had been to
foretell the future. It was believed that the will of God was
revealed to prophets in dreams. Some 5% of people in a
scientific population survey reported that they have the conviction
that dreams predict the future. The most popular
dream books for many years were those that linked images
that appeared in dreams to various numerical values and
these values were used by people to select what number
to pick in ''playing the numbers,'' the illegal forerunner
to the modern-day lottery. Psychotherapists, influenced by
Freud, have used the reports of the dream experience to
help them understand the dreamer, their patient. Unfortunately,
there had been very little scientific basis to support
the conviction that therapists had about the revelatory
potential in dream analysis.
The major reason for studying dreaming in the modern
context is to understand the functioning of the mind, to
understand consciousness. The dream may be seen as the
mind in pure culture. Dreaming may present us with a consciousness
that is the least influenced by external events [1, 2].
A secondary but important reason for studying dreaming
is to see if such a study will unlock the mysteries of psychosis
as had been suggested by Jung, Freud [3], and Hughlings
Jackson. Mental illness has been and remains a major
public health problem.
There has been great reluctance to studying the dream
experience in a scientific manner. Neuroscientists have
been interested in the study of the functions of the brain
and have seen the dream experience as epiphenomenal.
The dream has been and continues to be seen by some as
a degradation or waste product. It is for them the foam
on the beer of sleep. The dream experience is a first-person
experience and until quite recently only third-person
experiences were considered as amenable to scientific
study. First-person or subjective experiences depend on
the introspective ability of the subject as well as the willingness
of the subject to be an honest reporter. It was thought
that the difficulty in collecting reasonable size dream samples
coupled with the great variability assumed possible in
dreaming made scientific studies of dreaming impossible.
The view that dreams could not be studied scientifically
was enhanced by the belief that the reliability of dream
measurement had been unexplored and that the validity of
dream measurement was open to serious question. The discovery
in 1953 of a physiological correlate of dreaming,
rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which occurred several
times a night, made possible the collection of large dream
samples and experimental paradigms became feasible.
Dream reports, it was shown, could be reliably scored
and dreams were found to be more predictive night to
night than sleep stage scoring.
The dream as a psychological experience, reflected in
the dream report, should not be confused with REM
sleep, a physiological experience. The reductive algorithm
to move from dreaming consciousness to brain physiology
does not currently exist and may never exist. With apologies
to Emerson, a foolish biological ''reductionism'' may
be the hobgoblin of little minds. Dreaming to be the object
of scientific scrutiny must be regular, that is, orderly and not
random, signal not noise. The remainder of this discussion
will explore studies directed at establishing the regularity of
dreaming.
DO DREAMS EXIST?
The question has been raised whether the dream experience
exists as an event in time or as a confabulation either of the
awakening process or of waking consciousness [1, 4]. Freud
mentioned the work of Goblot who argued that the dream
was elaborated during the waking process. Malcolm, an
English philosopher of mind, argued, in his seminal book
Dreaming, that on logical grounds dreaming could not be
a concomitant of the sleeping state and that it is probably
an event related to the waking process. In an unpublished
essay entitled ''The Goblot Phenomenon,'' the great empiricist
of dream studies, the late Calvin Hall, also suggested
that dreaming was an experience concomitant with the waking
process.
There are experimental studies that directly and indirectly
address the issue of whether the dream is an experience
extended in time during sleep. Incorporation of
tactile and aural stimuli presented early or late during a
REM period appears appropriately in the subsequent
dream reports from these awakenings. Familiar and unfamiliar
names presented during a REM period are differentially
incorporated into the subsequent dream report. The familiar
names are more likely to be incorporated. The content of
the dream report (e.g., intensity) shows a developmental
course across a REM period. The direction of eye movements
during a REM period has been shown in some but
not all studies to be appropriate to the action described in
the dream report from that REM period. Subjects awakened
from a REM period are more likely to tell a ''dream-like''
story in response to a stimulus than when awakened from
non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Subjects asked
to make up a nightmare, to report a nightmare they have
experienced, and to tell a dream they have had report
three different experiences, with the made up nightmare
being the most intense, shortest, and best organized of the
three. Dreams are experiences that are concomitant with
sleep and are not constructed during the awakening process.
COLLECTION AND MEASUREMENT
OF DREAM REPORTS
Dream recall is a highly variable process, and to be able to
study dreaming, an awareness of those factors that may
influence the ability to recall the dream experience is necessary
[1, 5, 6]. The place where the dream is experienced
and reported (e.g., at home or in a laboratory) may well
influence the nature of the dream experience and whether
the experience is recalled to be reported. The method of
awakening will influence the recall of the dream. The faster
the awakening, the more likely a dream will be recalled.
The interpersonal situation between the dream reporter
and the dream collector will influence how much and
what will be reported. The gender similarity or difference
of the pair and the status relationship of the collector and
dreamer will influence recall and content. The style of collection
will influence recall and content. For example, asking
whether emotion occurred in the dream will increase
the number of reports of emotion obtained. The stage of
sleep from which the subject awakens will affect dream
recall, with greater recall if the awakening is from REM
sleep. The method of recording the dream experience will
affect the recall of dreams. The dreamer writing out the
dream gives shorter and better organized dream reports
than telling them into a recorder. The type of subject who
is reporting the dream experience will affect the frequency
and nature of what is recalled. The subject who recalls
dreams, who is more attuned to inner processes, and who
is more verbal will provide more dream reports with greater
detail than a less introspective, less verbal subject.
There are characteristics of the dream experience itself
which are determining of which of the several dreams of
the night are most likely to be remembered the next day.
There is a recency effect so that it is the last dream that
is most likely to be remembered. There is a primacy effect
as well so that the first dream experience is more likely to
be recalled than the second dream of the night. The longer
the dream experience, a length effect, the more likely the
recall. And, the more dramatic the dream experience, the
more likely it will be recalled. These characteristics have
been described as the saliency theory of dream recall.
There are other factors such as gender and age that are
known to influence dream recall. Women recall more
dreams than men and the older one gets the less dream
recall is reported. Brain damage independent of age
decreases dream recall. Psychological variables such as
ego strength, anxiety, repression, and field independence
in most people do not co-vary with dream recall. The meaning
of the dream in the context of the interpersonal collection
procedure can influence the dreamer's ability to recall
and his/her willingness to report the dream experience.
Serious question has been raised by those interested in
the spiritual and creative aspects of dreaming that measuring
the dream destroys its very essence. Examining the contribution
that the scientific study of dreaming has made to
our knowledge of dreaming belies such a negative assessment.
There are a number of problems associated with
efforts to measure the dream experience as reflected in
the dream report. First, we are trying to capture an event
experienced in one state, sleep, reported in another state,
wakefulness. Our earlier discussion offering evidence that
dreams exist and are not products of the awakening process
supports the idea that the dream report is an adequate representation
of the dream experience. Second, the dream
experience is presented as a verbal report. The verbal abilities
of the subject may account for dream differences
between subjects and a waking verbal control should be considered.
Third, what in the dream report is to be counted
as the scoreable report? A set of rules to deal with asides
and redundancies is necessary, as would be the case in dealing
with any effort to quantify verbal behavior. Fourth, the
question of word length and how to deal with dream reports
of differing lengths arises. Aword length correction may be
appropriate, but it has been suggested that some things may
require more words to describe them than others. Fifth,
there are scoring systems available for the quantification
of dream reports. The reliability and validity of these systems
have been established. Clinical concepts of interest
can be found or created by combining aspects of an extant
system, analogous to using Nissl staining for cell bodies
and Golgi staining for dendrites in studying the nervous
system. A series of dream reports were scored for hostility
with a number of different systems. There was considerable
overlap among the various systems, but some 75% of the
variance was unexplained. The systems apparently had different
conceptualizations of hostility and perhaps some of
the prized ineffability of dreaming was in the unexplained
variance.
The content of dream reports is reliable as shown by
comparing home dream reports to laboratory-collected
reports both scored with the same content system by two
different investigators. Dream content reports are remarkably
stable across time comparing home-reported dreams
of college students some three decades apart and from
two different institutions. Yet, dream reports of the same
person are variable enough from night to night such that
the dreams of one night can be distinguished from those
of another night.
NORMATIVE, UNIVERSAL, REPETITIVE DREAMS
AND NIGHTMARES
The quantitative work with dreams [1, 6-10] has provided a
picture of the normative dream. The average dream has 2.6
characters, 4.8 activities, 1.4 social interactions, and 1.3 settings
per dream. Other features of dreams which occur in
some but not all dreams include negatives 0.77, emotions
0.70, misfortunes 0.41, failure 0.13, success 0.12, and
good fortune 0.06 per dream. Aspects of dreams which
do not occur in all dreams are less likely to be central to
the dream experience.
The major demographic organizer of dreams is the gender
of the dreamer, with age, race, marital status, and social
class relatively less important. Males have fewer characters
in their dreams than women, but they are mostly men and
are less likely to be known to the dreamer. Women have
more people in their dreams who are equally likely to be
men or women and are more likely to be known to the dreamer.
Men have more physical activity and aggressive social
interactions than women. Women have more friendly social
interactions than men but fewer sexual interactions. Men
have more outdoor settings in their dream reports and
women more indoor settings.
There are typical or universal dreams that occur to
most people and in which the content is essentially the
same across dreamers. Freud listed some 23 different typical
dreams such as feeling embarrassed being naked, the
death of a loved one, swimming, or being in a fire. He
attributed an identical meaning to some (e.g., being naked
and loss of a loved one) and a dreamer-specific meaning to
others (e.g., swimming and being in a fire). Harris [9] has
pointed out that universal dreams such as falling reflect
feelings of insecurity, while dreams of being pursued reflect
a feeling of being attacked and may have a differential gender
frequency. Ward and co-workers [7] related universal
dreams to different aspects of development. It has been
observed that the frequency of the various universal dreams
is quite similar across cultures.
The repetitive dream has been the object of some interest.
It has generally been seen as the response to a similar
set of troubling emotional circumstances, usually starting in
childhood, involving only the dreamer, and generally having
a negative tone. Domhoff [8] has suggested that dreams
are a metaphorical attempt at problem resolving and that
repetitive dreams may be an attempt to deal with unresolved
emotional concerns of the dreamer.
There has long been a fascination with the nightmare
experience. Nightmares are a universal experience as
almost everyone has been awakened from a disturbing
dream feeling anxious with some sense of difficulty in
breathing. Bad dreams, which have a negative emotional
tone but do not awaken the dreamer, are even more
common. The actual nightmare experience is not nearly
as intense as what people imagine a nightmare to be but is
clearly distinguishable from an ordinary dream. Nightmares
cannot be defined based on their content or explained by
chronic nightmare sufferers being better dream recallers.
There is the suggestion that the discomfort experienced
by those experiencing nightmares is a reaction to the
experience rather than a concomitant of the nightmare.
Not all people who experience nightmares are troubled by
them. Those individuals who are troubled by their nightmares
and who describe their nightmares as reactive to daytime
distress are more likely to seek help for their
nightmares. Techniques that encourage rescripting of the
nightmare experience have been shown to be helpful.
DREAMS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES
Dreams, to be ordered (i.e., nonrandom and meaningful),
should reflect psychological differences in circumstances
where we know such differences exist, and indeed that is
what has been found. It has been shown at the group level that there
are demonstrable dream content differences
associated with demographic variables (e.g., gender, age,
race, marital status, and social class) [1, 11, 12]. The
major psychiatric illnesses show clear psychological differences
from normals as the dreams of people with schizophrenia
and depression have different dream content from
each other and from normals. The schizophrenic has strangers
as its common character type while the depressed have
family members and normals have friends.
Psychological differences among people at the group
level is also found at the individual level, and these differences
are also found in their dreams. The dreams of individuals
can be distinguished one from another. People are to
some degree different from day to day and the dreams of
one night can be distinguished from those of another
night from the same person. The regularity in dreaming is
suggested by dreams becoming increasingly predictive
from night to night such that in a series of 20 consecutive
nights of dream collection, the 19th night's dreams predict
the 20th night's dreams at a level of 0.8.
Two patterns of dream relationships across the multiple
dreams of a night have been described. One pattern is of a
progressive-sequential (P-S) nature, in which metaphorically
a problem is posed, worked on, and to some degree
resolved. An illustration of a P-S dream series of a young
single woman is one in which she first dreams she is a child
clinging to stay in the hospital, then of being rejected by a
colleague's wife; in the third dream she has a partner and
they are victorious in a game; in the next dream she decides
she doesn't need the doctor despite evidence to the contrary,
and in the last dream she turns on the doctor. The other pattern
is of a traumatic-repetitive (T-R) nature, in which a
concern or problem is expressed metaphorically with different
imagery in each dream of the night. An illustration of a
T-R dream series from the same young woman is one in
which in the first dream someone is lost and trying to call
home; in the second dream she is at an orphanage and
because there was no room in the car she had to go
home with someone else; and in the last dream she is
being left by her mother in a laboratory where there
might not be enough room. The dream reports across a
night's dreaming support the possibility of content change
in as simple a form as the number of words in each
dream report. In a series of dreams it was found that the
first dream was shorter than the second and the third was
shorter than the fourth, but there was no length difference
between the second and the third. There were content differences
as well across the night with the word content held
constant. There were three content differences between the
first and second dream of the night and five between the
second and the third dream but none between the third
and the fourth.
There is a pattern of development or organization even
within a dream. The content of the dream shows an increase
in intensity for the first 10 min and then shows a plateau
for 10-20 min and resumes again. A timing pattern
similar to the ebb and flow of the eye movements across
a REM period is shown by the content change across the
dream.
Content differences in dreams are found where we
expect to find psychological differences between people.
Demographic variables and psychiatric illnesses show
dream content differences. Dreams of individuals are different
one from the other as are dreams of different nights of
the same individual. There are different patterns of dreams
across the night and there is a developmental pattern of
dream content within the dream itself. The dream appears
to be a highly ordered experience in reflecting psychological
differences.
INFLUENCES ON DREAM CONTENT
The dream experience has been described as responsive to a
number of manipulations [1, 13, 14]. Tart has summarized
some of these manipulations as including direct suggestion,
stimuli introduced during the dream experience, hypnosis,
conditioning, and REM deprivation and rebound.
The more intensely emotional experiences of the previous
day are more likely to be represented in the dreams
of the following night. The beginning and ending of an
experience, such as sleeping for 20 consecutive nights in
a sleep laboratory for dream collection, can be correctly
identified in dreams while the middle of the experience cannot.
References to sleeping in the unusual situation of a
sleep laboratory continue to be represented at the same frequency
(i.e., without adaptation) across a 20 night series.
The vagaries of the interpersonal situation between the
dreamer and the dream collector are reflected in the
reported dreams. Dreams critical of the morning dream collector,
a psychiatrist, are reported at night to the technician
but not in the morning. And a very macho man does not
report scary dreams with homosexual implications to the
psychiatrist in the morning but does report dreams that capture
his sexual relationship to women and his fighting with
men. Male volunteers in the sleep laboratory reported
dreams suggestive of their fears of being exploited by the
male experimenters while female subjects had dreams
that suggested a fear of being raped. A female subject, a
nurse, dreamed about problems with an intravenous (IV)
infusion that had continuing trouble when there was a
female dream collector, but on nights when a male physician
was the dream collector the IV ran without a problem.
Patients had dreams about their therapists while sleeping in
the laboratory, while their therapists who slept in another
laboratory on the same night dreamed about the conference
the next day where their work with the patient was to
be discussed. The conference leaders dreamed about the research group
and the research group probably about the
research funding agency. We dream about what concerns
us. Depressed patients who were given medications that
alter their depressed mood had concomitant changes in
their dreams showing increased motility, intimacy, and
sexuality as the depression lifted. Playing the names of
familiar people and unfamiliar people during the dream
experience leads to a greater incorporation of the familiar
person into the dream. Emotionally significant experiences
from the waking state are what become represented in
dreams.
DREAMS AND WAKING THOUGHT
Dreams are organized not random events as they reflect
psychological differences among people and are influenced
by significant emotional events [1, 11, 15]. The next question
to ask is about the relationship between dreaming and
waking thought.
The themes of pre- and post-sleep verbalizations have
been shown to be more closely related to each other than
the multiple REM dream reports of a night are to each
other. Waking thought is more thematically constrained
than the more fluid dreaming thought.
The themes of pre-sleep thought are more closely related
to the themes of subsequent dream reports than the dream
reports are to the themes of post-sleep verbalizations.
Dreams appear to be more reactive to prior wakeful thought
than proactive to subsequent wakeful thought.
Dreamers show both a trait and state relationship
between dream reports and waking fantasy. Subjects had
their REM dream reports and Thematic Apperception
Test (TAT) stories scored with ten of the need press
variables described by Murray. The rank order intensity
scores of the ten variables were significantly related. In
another study, spontaneous verbal samples were collected
immediately before and after REM dream collection in
the sleep laboratory. The contents of the verbal samples
and dream reports were found to be significantly related.
The TAT study demonstrates a trait and the verbal sample
study a state relationship between dreams and waking
thought.
The changes in feeling states (mood) across the night are
related to the content of the intervening dreams. Mood
adjective checklists done before and after REM dream collection
show a relationship between who and what was
dreamed about and the change in aspects of mood from
night to morning. The strongest relationship is between
the characters in dream reports and the change in the
unhappy aspect of mood. The change in sleepiness across
the night is related to the amount of NREM sleep one
obtains.
Some aspects of pre-sleep mood correlate with some
dream report contents and some dream report contents correlate
with some aspects of post-sleep mood. However, the
same aspect of pre- and post-sleep mood does not correlate
with the intervening dream content. The changes in mood
across the night are not a simple pass through the night's
dreams.
Inferences drawn about patients from waking observations
and dream reports are similar. Patients had their histories
written down by their therapists and had a
psychological test report prepared based on their TAT and
Rorschach Tests. The patients also had five REM dreams
collected. Independent judges read the history, the dream
reports, and the test results and based on each data source
did a 100 item Q sort describing the patient. The therapist
did a Q sort as well. These Q sorts were significantly correlated
among the judges. The dream led to similar inferences
about the patient as one would obtain from the
history and psychological testing. Yet as the amount of
overlap-explained variance-was low, there are areas
where different inferences could be drawn from the
dream than from the other data sources.
Successful from unsuccessful treatment in long-term
psychodynamic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis has been
distinguished by comparing the change from the first to the
last dream report in therapy. The therapist's ranking of the
degree of improvement among a series of similar long-term
psychotherapy treatments has been significantly correlated
to a judge's ranking based on comparing the degree of
change between the first and the last dream report in therapy.
The degree to which patients change in the dynamic
psychotherapies is reflected in changes in their dream
reports.
Waking and sleeping fantasy are related. However, waking
thought is more thematically constrained than the more
fluid dreaming thought. Dream themes appear to be more
related to pre-sleep thought than to post-sleep thought.
Dreamers show both a trait and state relationship between
dream reports and waking fantasy. The changes in feeling
states (mood) across the night are related to the content
of the intervening dreams. But the changes in mood across
the night are not a simple pass through the night's dreams.
Inferences drawn about patients from waking observations
and dream reports are similar but not identical. Changes in
dream content parallel the differential outcomes reported in
the dynamic psychotherapies.
DREAM MEANING
Does dreaming have the necessary structure to make a
search for the meaning of a dream reasonable? If the content
of dreaming is random, more like noise than a signal,
then a search for the meaning of a dream would be futile.
However, the evidence does indicate that the dream has the
necessary order to support meaning [1, 3, 16-18]. Dreaming
has to be related to the ongoing and changing waking
concerns of the dreamer if it is to have meaning.
Dreams have order, as they are organized within a REM
period, showing an increase in the intensity of content and
across the REM periods of the night, and as there are differences
in content between REM periods. The dreams of one
night can be distinguished from those of another night of
the same dreamer, but the dream reports of a dreamer are
also related across nights. The dream reports of one dreamer
can be distinguished from those of another dreamer.
There are dream content differences related to demographic
variables such as gender, age, race, marital status, education,
and social class. Gender is the major demographic
organizer of dream content with age and race a distant second.
The dreams of schizophrenics are different from those
of the depressed and both are different from normals.
Dreams have been shown to have a connection to the
waking emotional concerns of the dreamer. Similar clinical
inferences can be drawn from dreams as from the clinical
history and psychological test reports of patients. Dream
contents have both a trait and state connection to the dreamer
as shown by TAT stories and verbal sample analysis.
Mood change across the night is related to who and what
is dreamed about and mood change in depressives treated
with antidepressants has concomitant dream content
change. There is a thematic connection from pre-sleep mentation
to dream content to post-sleep mentation, with the
dream content appearing to be more reactive than proactive.
Dream content changes reflect the changes in long-term
psychotherapy.
The dream to be understood needs to be approached as a
figurative rather than literal statement. A psychological
meaning system needs to be applied to a dream to establish
its meaning. There are a number of such systems of psychological
meaning such as provided by Freud, Jung, Adler,
Gendlin, Delaney, Hall, Kramer, the Existentialists, and
the Gestaltists.
Kramer [16] has suggested that the dream be parsed into
phrases and that one begins at the beginning to use one's
associations to each phrase, keeping in mind that the
dream is to be understood figuratively, that meaning is contextual,
and that the dream is its own context. The associations
to each succeeding phrase serve to select from and
narrow down the possible meanings. In the end, the understanding
that requires the fewest assumptions and accounts
for most of the content is accepted as the most likely meaning,
recognizing that other meanings are possible.
Dreams have the essential structure, orderliness and connection
to waking fantasy so that a search for meaning
appears justified. Approaches to establish meaning have
been suggested by many both with and without the
co-operation of the dreamer.
THE FUNCTIONS OF DREAMING
An interest in the psychological function of dreaming
remains to the present day [1, 3, 19, 20]. Freud saw dreaming
as the disguised attempted fulfillment of an infantile
wish in the service of maintaining the continuity of sleep.
He recognized that a theory of dreaming did not require
that it attribute a function to dreaming, but given his teleological
predilections he preferred functional theories. The
function of dreaming can refer either to how the dream is
constructed or to what dreaming achieves, to the consequences
of the dream experience. The consequence of
dreaming is often related to how it is constructed. Theories
of dreaming generally are either assimilative or accommodative.
The assimilative theories are more likely to account
for the totality of dreaming and function outside conscious
awareness (i.e., without recall and secondary reworking).
These theories generally have the dream achieve some corrective
or reductive goal. An accommodative theory has the
dreamer recalling the dream experience either alone or in
therapy and, following some exploration, an understanding
develops that serves to alter the dreamer. Dream theories
may encompass both an assimilative and an accommodative
function.
Many functions have been suggested for dreaming. Freud
saw the dream as the protector of sleep; Jung saw it as a
compensation for conscious exaggeration; Adler as an
affective generator to support the life style; French as solving
emotional problems; Giora saw the dream as a form of
emotional thinking; Breger saw it as an information processing
process; and Kramer as a selective affective modulator.
SUMMARY
The dream [1] is a legitimate object for scientific study. It
exists as an experience in time, which is adequately captured
as a verbal report. The dream experience can be influenced
by a number of factors and can be usefully quantified.
The dream is orderly and organized, signal not noise, as it
reflects meaningful psychological differences and responds
to and reflects emotionally laden influences.
REFERENCES
1. Kramer M. The psychology of the dream: art or science?
Psychiatri J Univ Ottawa 7:87-100(1982).
2. Foulkes D. The Grammar of Dreams. Basic Books, New York,
1978.
3. Freud S. The Interpretation of Dreams. Basic Books, New
York, 1900/1955.
4. MalcolmN. Dreaming.Routledge andKegan Paul,London, 1975.
5. Winget C, Kramer M. Dimensions of the Dream. University of
Florida Press, Gainesville, 1979.
6. Hall C, van de Castle R. The Content Analysis of Dreams.
Appleton, New York, 1966.
7. Ward C, Beck A, Rascoe E. Typical dreams: incidence among
psychiatric patients. Arch Gen Psychiatry 5:606-615(1961).
8. Domhoff G. The repetition of dreams and dream elements: a
possible clue to a function of dreams. In: Moffitt A, Kramer
M, Hoffman R (Eds), The Functions of Dreaming. State University
of New York Press, Albany, 1993.
9. Harris I. The dream of the object endangered. Psychiatry
20:15-62(1957).
10. Levin R, Fireman G. Phenomenal qualities of nightmare
experience in a prospective study of college students. Dreaming
12:109-120(2002).
11. Glucksman M, Kramer M. Using dreams to assess clinical
change during treatment. J Am Acad Psychoanal Dynamic
Psychiatry (to be published).
12. Winget C, Kramer M, Whitman R. Dreams and demography.
Can Psychiatr Assoc J 17:203-208(1972).
13. Tart C. From spontaneous event to lucidity: a review of
attempts to consciously control nocturnal dreaming. In:
Wolman B (Ed), Handbook of Dreams. Van Nostrand Reinhold,
New York, 1979.
14. Fox R, Kramer M, Baldridge B, Whitman R, Ornstein P. The
experimenter variable in dream research. Dis Nerv Syst
29:698-701(1968).
15. Kramer M. The selective mood regulatory function of
dreaming: an update and revision. In: Moffitt A, Kramer M,
Hoffmann R (Eds), The Functions of Dreaming. State University
of New York Press, Albany, 1993.
16. Kramer M. Dream translation: an approach to understanding
dreams. In: Delaney G (Ed), New Directions in Dream
Interpretation. State University of New York Press, Albany,
1993.
17. Gendlin E. Let Your Body Interpret Your Dreams. Chiron
Publication, Basel, 1986.
18. Shulman B. An adlerian view. In: Kramer M (Ed), Dream
Psychology and the New Biology of Dreaming. Charles C.
Thomas, Springfield, IL, 1969.
19. Moffatt A, Kramer M, Hoffmann R. (Eds). The Functions of
Dreaming. State University of New York Press, Albany, 1993.
20. Piaget J. Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood. Norton,
New York, 1962.
ADDITIONAL READING
Blechner M. The Dream Frontier. The Analytic Press, Hillsdale,
NJ, 2001
Cartwright R, Lamberg L. Crisis Dreaming. HarperCollins, New
York, 1992.
Domhoff G. Finding Meaning in Dreams. Plenum Press, New
York, 1996.
Foulkes D. Dreaming: A Cognitive-Psychological Analysis.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, 1985.
Foulkes D. Children's Dreaming and the Development of
Consciousness. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1999.
Hartmann E. Dreams and Nightmares. Plenum Press, New York,
1998.
Lippman P. Nocturnes. The Analytic Press, Hillsdale, NJ, 2000.
Moffatt A. Kramer M, Hoffman R (Eds). The Functions of Dreaming.
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1993.
Ullman M, Limmer C. The Variety of Dream Experience, 2nd ed.
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1999.

 Italiano (si é vero mi e' sucesso anche questo).
Mah,... non mi voglio scagliare contro nessuno, ma se avevi qualcosa da
dire, potevi provare a dirlo utilizzando il dono divino della sintesi. 
Così è come non aver detto nulla, rischianbdo oltretutto di far incazzare
la SIAE.


 la SIAE.
Questo é un mio problema. Comunque non che non sia cosciente del
rischio, l'idea e' mantenere questo post il meno possibile sull'NG, se
qualcuno e' interessato si afretti a leggerlo. Si corrono dei rischi
per il proprio credo...nel mio caso che la divulgazione scientifica
dovrebbe essere libera e acessibile da tutti.
Ciao
Andrea

 qualcuno e' interessato si afretti a leggerlo.
Come no! Mille righe in 10 minuti. 
E studiate bene che dopo Zille v'interroga :)).
Saluti,
Aleph


 Questo é un mio problema. 
Tranquillo.
A parte che conoscendo l'indolenza e la pigrizia degli ispettori SIAE li 
voglio proprio vedere all'opera a leggersi tutti i NG per sorprendere il 
superamento della soglia del 15% (questo dice la legge) nella 
riproduzione/citazione di opere... A parte che non stai vendendo sotto 
banco parti di libro...
E poi cmq in un "convivio" scientifico (anche se virtuale) come questo 
la SIAE deve solo provarci a romper i co***ni, quando si devono 
necessariamente citare dati, autori ed esperimenti... altrimenti di che 
parliamo? delle pippe mentali del vanolone??
Se diamo retta al ragionamento sulla SIAE e diritto d'autore allora non 
dovrebbero esistere neanche i congressi. Invece per fortune la Scienza 
vive di scambio - libero!! - di informazioni.


Aleph ha scritto:
sottoscrivo tutto quello che hai ribattuto a Zille (ma ti debbo sempre
restituire quel vaffa... :-) che mi hai prestato tempo fa).
Aggiungo solo che il tutto si poteva sintetizzare con
"Ma perché sogniamo così tanto? E che significato hanno i sogni? Dal
momento che non se ne sa granché, è questo un campo in cui ognuno
può ipotizzare quello che vuole."
Questa frase la scrivono quei scientisti rombiballe del CICAP, e se lo
scrivono loro...
Si vede che non hanno sentito prima il parere dell'esperta LB e del suo
fido Morris :-)
fuzzy

 Aleph
Saluti Andrea

 lo sforzo di leggerlo e di capire cosa e' la scritto.
...
Rimango abbagliato dalla tua cultura enciclopedica, che però evidentemente
serve a ben poco visto che non hai risposto neppura ad una (dico una)
delle questioni che ho sollevato, serie o amene che fossero.
Rimango dell'idea che se si vuol discutere all'interno di un newsgroup, lo
si fa dicendo *sinteticamente* quel che si ha da dire e basta, evitando di 
copiaincollare migliaia di righe da un testo; tuttalpiù a sostegno delle
proprie tesi si possono riportare bibliografie e sitografie anche corpose,
che è cosa ben diversa.
Saluti e dormi bene,


 restituire quel vaffa... :-) che mi hai prestato tempo fa).
OK, adesso siamo pari :-).


 Aleph
Credo che tu sia andato fuori dai binari caro Aleph. Primo perche'  ti
ricordo che, sempre ovviamente nel rispetto degli altri, ognuno fa
nell'NG quello che ritiene migliore per spiegare un concetto. Secondo
sei fuorviante quando affermi che starei cercando di sostenere le miei
tesi quando invece in questo specifico caso il mio intento era
puramente divulgativo.
É facile taccitare gli altri di non rispondere ai tuoi quesiti senza
leggere quello che si 'e postato perche' a tuo avviso troppo lungo.
Pensando inoltre che i tuoi quesiti siano gli unici nel post e che
abbiano qualche priorita' nella risposta. O ancora che per qualche
oscura ragione debba per forza rispondere ai tuoi specifici quesiti e
non seguire altre linee di pensiero che piu´mi aggrada approfondire.
A volte meglio leggere un capitolo di 500 righe ben scritto piuttosto
che una sintesi scritta in fretta. Ma ho giá capito che la tua visione
di NG e' che gli altri studino e leggano i libri per te e tengano tempo
di sintetizzare i concetti per tu non fare fatica a studiare un
pochettino un argomento. Complimenti! Ricordo anche che prima di
postare l'interessante capitolo ho scritto altri post sintetici e
inviato bibliografia e che semplicemente non mi sono limitato a questo.
Sintetizzando: ti sei fatto un idea molto personale basata su
preconcetti e pigrizia mentale di quello che per te deve essere un NG e
cerchi di imporre questa distorta visione anche agli altri. Questo
perche': Non tutti si accontentano di approfondire un argomento
leggendo post di 10 righe che spesso non spiegano nulla e sono molto
limitativi nella loro sintesi. Non tutti pensano che leggere un
capitolo di un libro, poco acessibile nei circuiti italiani, su un
argomento che gli interessa sia una cosa limitativa e un perdita di
tempo. Non tutti pensano che tutto si possa spiegare per proclami,
frasi fatte e filosofia da osteria. Non tutti pensano che aproffondire
seriamente un argomento sia una fatica inutile. Vista la tua avversitá
ai testi troppo lunghi ho gia capito che confondi "sintesi" con
"pigrizia mentale" e che vuoi pure imporre le tue limitazioni agli
altri.
Saluti  
Andrea

taccitare
io taccito tu tacciti egli... uhm.. no, non mi risulta.
sembra un neologismo composto da "tacciare", "tacitare" e "taccitua"...
:-)
fuzzy

fuzzy escreveu:

ops troppe c 
:-)
Andrea