1
Q
What is the first step in dream research? (Mparsa)
A
- measure overt physiology w/ polysomnography
- possibly introduce external stimuli
- awaken participants, ask “what was going through your mind” (search for mental activity during all stages)
- recorded by device, dictated, written by dreamer
- standard checklists used
- aware of experimenter/peer, gender/age or perception of how data used
2
Q
What is the second step in dream research? (Hm)
A
- home - beeper, alarm clock and recorder
- more hostility, aggression, sexuality in home reports
3
Q
What is the third step in dream research? (Anne)
A
- analyze dream journals kept longitudinally, within & across participants
- need >20 dreams/individual to assess patterns in dreaming
- need 125-200+ to compare content differences b/w people
- element consistency in indiv. (teens to elderly)
4
Q
What are the challenges of dream research? (Nan N)
A
- no clear universal precise definition of “dream”:
- any mentation during sleep/in REM: more elaborate, vivid, story-like, “logical”, emotional
- NREM mentation occurs: fragmentary, vague thoughts, single sensation
- no direct access to dreams: simple awakening causes change in functional org. of brain, affects recall
5
Q
What are the challenges of dream research? (LRISPW)
A
- longer from REM, more difficult to recall content
- recall reduced if woken up after REM body movement
- if dream >15min, early part forgotten
- subject bias: “want” to recall content
- ppl want to recall what “happened” vs. describing details
- what we recall often not “entire story”
6
Q
What are the challenges of dream research? (MCNPM)
A
- memory processes not perfect
- cannot check accuracy of dream recall: uncertain of findings
- need vocabulary, ability to communicate/describe
- participants “complete”/“fill in” story: reconstruction, deduction
- minimal funding available
7
Q
What is mentation?
A
thoughts, images, feelings, perceptions, cognition
8
Q
What is reconstruction?
A
transformed, embellished
9
Q
What is deduction?
A
fill in “links”, why, “this happened due to…”
10
Q
What is dream recall? (SSAALA)
A
- sense of amazement/curiosity
- startled/afraid
- attempt to recall images, details & story
- attempt to understand why this content, why now (look for external causes)
- look for purpose & meaning
- attempt to interpret impact on waking life
11
Q
What are the determinants of dream recall?
A
- Repression Hypothesis
- Salience Hypothesis
- Interference Hypothesis
- Non-Reporters
12
Q
What is the repression hypothesis?
A
censorship at dreaming/waking state, but conversely dreams contain bad-natured behaviours
13
Q
What is the salience hypothesis?
A
more vivid, bizarre, emotion-filled; more likely to recall dream
14
Q
What is the interference hypothesis?
A
distraction during dreaming, during/after awakening unrelated to dreaming, interrupts dream recall
15
Q
What are non-reporters? (S tcw)
A
some people cannot/do not recall dream content
- takes effort to focus, recall & report
- consistently sleep-deprived
or - wake from N3 regularly, cannot recall dream periods
16
Q
What is psychophysiological parallelism?
A
how closely related are the physiological & physical events to that of dream content
17
Q
What happens physiologically when we dream? (SLME)
A
- shifts in global brain function & area-specific changes
(measured via regional cerebral flow PET scans + blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI) - lack of motor output
- more activity in areas related to hallucinatory experiences
- emotional processes heightened
(emotions, survival, motivation, episodic memory)
18
Q
What happens physiologically when we dream? (DLMH)
A
- DA increases in midbrain, initiates dreaming
- less activation in PFC
- majority of frontal lobe inhibited, prevents awakening
- have elements of waking life experiences + emotions but lack logic/reality testing
19
Q
What is the precuneus? (TVSG)
A
- turns on slightly when lucid dreaming
- visual, spatial processing
- self-reflection, self-awareness
- gives info on context
20
Q
What happens when we dream in terms of time? Do we dream in “real time”? (LRTBY)
A
- length of dream report & preceding REM related
- REM beh. disorder: movements in sync w/ real time
- time similar, unless there is stop-start, jumping from scene to scene
- body movements during REM = shifts in dream sequencing
- yes, we dream in “real time”
21
Q
How do external events affect a dream? (I Rof Fi)
A
- incongruous to “story” but can enter dream content
REM:
- stimulus may modify dream, create mild element/change
- first night in sleep study lab: depict lab situation
- films, graphic, emotion-inducing scenes, video game content:
- intrude & influence dream content, if related to dreamer’s personal situation/emotional interests/investment
22
Q
What are specific external stimuli that affect dreams? (NRMOSS)
A
- neutral sounds/tones, train whistle, rooster crowing, traffic, water drop on faces, light flashes, electric shock
- red light: changes hue, over several days
- memorization of nonsense sentences before sleep, has elements
- own voice: become more assertive, helpful, independent or active
- someone else’s voice: become more passive, observer
- starving/thirsty: content could be related to theme
23
Q
What is the scanning hypothesis?
A
extra-ocular muscular movement during REM identical to eye movements when we scan environment
24
Q
Do eye movements indicate looking around?
A
- scanning hypothesis
- motor activity generated by brain as dreamer visually connects during dream
- vertical plane = watching object fall, or up to sky & back to ground
- horizontal plane = looking at wide field, people at social gathering
- blind (from birth/before 5yrs): no eye movement, only EEG & EMG indicators of REM
25
What are counter-arguments of the scanning hypothesis?
- newborns: much eye movement in REM but vision not developed
- cats: eye movements jerky, solely horizontal & related to PGO sharp waves, causing non-specific bursts of brain activity, not related to “seeing”
- human adults: difficult to predict eye movements in any state
26
What is the release hypothesis of dreams?
- instinct “relief valves” for pent-up basic unacceptable unconscious drives not relieved due to societal/personal constraints
- thoughts/actions
- sexuality, aggression
- manifest vs. latent content
- many objects appearing in dreams “displaced” sexual thoughts, desires in which therapist finds symbolic substitutions & meanings
- Freud, traditional psychoanalysis
27
What is the facilitate emotional adaptation hypothesis of dreams? (HKABR)
- help to cope w/ balance of emotions, provide relief w/ current issues + prepare for future stress, life problems within safety of dream
- Jung: psychic balance, dreams reveal & assist us
- Adler: personal problem solving function
- Hobson: fMRI - activation of areas of emotion centres of brain during REM, shape content of dreams
- REM increases after day/multiple days of stress, worry & intense learning
28
What is the facilitate emotional adaptation hypothesis of dreams? (2)
- work directly on emotional problem, without fear of ridicule, social constraints, try out different solutions
- Hartmann: dreams make emotions into visual metaphors
- Kramer: mood regulatory hypothesis - after dreaming mood and beh. can improve, particularly with major life events, pre-post measure of mood following sleep
29
What is the creativity hypothesis of dreams? (1)
- several unique, original dreams
- suggest solutions to everyday problems, without restraint of logic or realism
- free from self-criticism/concern for others impressions
- reality testing can occur - once awake can discern reality, more easily recognize that our minds can create images that are not real (children)
30
What is the creativity hypothesis of dreams? (2)
- must be able to recognize that the dream is offering the solution
- unpredictable when it may occur, so ready to record possibilities
- musicians, chemists, engineers, writers, artists, students working on thesis...
- ....possible could have derived solution when awake, or when just falling asleep and the dream reflects this “rehearsal”
31
What is the play hypothesis of dreams?
- enjoyment, fun
- free to experiment, explore, “try on”
- exaggeration, variation, non-sensical purpose, actions or consequences
- try out skills, events, social relationships different from our serious life
- provide enhanced flexibility, prepare us for the future
32
What is the memory consolidation hypothesis of dreams?
- “off line” memory processing
- consolidating, assimilating information
- dreams are portions of recent episodes, mixed w/ older memories (biographical or sensorimotor), integration of past w/ present
- Hartmann: do not replay waking life, but create new connections, center around a theme, content changes over time
- our recall of material after REM sleep is more accurate, high protein synthesis in the brain during REM (esp. procedures, declarative memory)
- contrary evidence: anti-depressants that suppress REM, have appropriate memory function
33
What are other functions of dreams?
- Horne: dreams distract brain from waking up
- frontal cortex not keeping stimulation orderly or testing reality
- we accept our dreams as reality and distracts us from waking in a stage where we are close to doing so
- Revonsou: evolutionary purpose
- dreams enable a rehearsal of threats “threat script”, ways to avoid them; enhance probability of survival
- REM is a “pseudo-wake” state to test environment for danger
- McGrath, Cohen: REM is time for “systems testing”of nervous system beyond brain (highly variable activation of resp., CV, other autonomic systems)
34
What is the epiphenomena hypothesis of dreams?
- no function
- cognitive neuroscience approach
- Domhoff, Flanagan, Foulkes, etc
- generated as brain performing some other function that is required during sleep
- we find pattern/relationship when there is none
PSYC 208
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