The relationship between video game play and threat simulation dreams.

Revonsuo proposes an evolutionary theory of dreaming in which dreams allow an individual to prepare for real world threats in the safety of the virtual setting of the dream world. Based upon previous work examining the dreams of video game players, it was hypothesized that high-end gamers would experience fewer threat simulation dreams because of frequent threat resolution rehearsal during game play. Subjects were asked to report a night before dream and fill out surveys regarding their gaming history, media use, and dream experiences. Using a factor analysis, support for the main hypothesis was found. Individuals with a history of game play experienced fewer threat severity variables in their dreams. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life span differences in color dreaming.

We examined evidence for developmental and generational differences in dreaming in color from childhood to old age. To separate these effects, we surveyed the frequency of color experience in dreams twice, with a 16-year interval between surveys. In the 1993 survey, 2,077 (male: 1,194; female: 883; ages: 10 to 85 years) and, in 2009, 1,328 (male: 596; female: 732; ages: 11 to 89 years) participants completed a dream recall questionnaire that included a question about the presence of color in their dreams. In both surveys, approximately 80% of subjects younger than 30 years of age experienced color in their dreams, but the percentage decreased with age and fell to approximately 20% by the age of 60. The frequency of dreaming in color increased from 1993 to 2009 only for respondents in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. We speculate that color TV may play a role in the generational difference observed. However, it is true that generation affects the incidence of color in dreams, as suggested by Schwitzgebel, Huang, and Zhou (2006) and Murzyn (2008), although this effect is very small compared with that of aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Austrian Dream Behavior: Results of a Representative Population Survey

This study was based on a survey of a representative sample of 1000 Austrians who were questioned about their sleep and dream behavior. About two-thirds of the respondents reported that they generally recalled at least one dream per month. Dream recall frequency decreased with advancing age, but did not differ between men and women. Fifty-five percent of the respondents characterized the affective content of their dreams: 29% reported neutral, 20% positive, and 6% negative dreams. Four percent of the sample reported suffering from nightmares. These respondents more frequently reported snoring, interrupted sleep, daytime somnolence, anxiety and nervousness, depression, high dream recall, recurrent dreams, and dreaming in color. Twenty-six percent of the total sample reported that sometimes they realized during their dreams that they were dreaming. These respondents more frequently reported family problems, high dream recall, positive dream content, recurrent dreams, dreaming in color, and nightmares.     

Dream recall after night awakenings from tonic/phasic REM sleep

Eleven healthy subjects, 9 females and 2 males aged 21-23, were submitted to all night polygraphic recording and awaken in REM (Rapid Eye Movements) sleep, randomly upon tonic or phasic REM. Immediately upon awakening subjects were asked about possible dreaming according to the standardized questionnaire. Seventy-seven dreams, i.e. 79% of all 97 REM awakenings, were reported and analyzed. There were no significant differences in reported frequency of dreamings after awakening, mood and dream content due to phasic/tonic REM sleep. Dreams from phasic REM were a bit more colorful. Predictor of morning remembering of dreams was meaninglessness, not meaningfulness of dreams, and, in lesser extent, good mood, colorfulness, dreams with words and phasic REM sleep.     

Theory of Mind in Dreaming: Awareness of Feelings and Thoughts of Others in Dreams.

If the awareness of what others are thinking and the ability to attribute feelings to others characterizes both waking and dreaming consciousness, it suggests that a social species like man has a state-independent need for a theory of mind; that is, an ability to know that others have feelings. The authors performed 2 studies, the first of which consisted of 35 participants who submitted 320 dream reports containing more than 1,200 dream characters and the second consisted of 24 participants who submitted 151 dream reports with 543 dream events. Participants reported that as subjects in their own dreams they were aware that their dream characters had feelings and thoughts about them. This finding shows that awareness of what others are feeling is a robust aspect of consciousness that is maintained despite the changed chemistry and changed activation patterns of the brain's neuronal connections during dreaming. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream Recall Frequency and Dream Detail as Mediated by Personality, Behavior, and Attitude

Many studies investigated how personality, behavior, and attitude mediate dream recall, but few distinguish between measures of dream recall frequency: the number of dreams experienced in a specified time frame and dream detail: individual ratings of vividness or detailed content of dreams. This study compared undergraduates' (n = 173) self-reported dream recall frequency, and dream detail, with behaviors, attitude toward dreaming, and scores on scales of Extraversion/Introversion and Type A/B. Dream recall frequency and dream detail manifested different patterns of association in relation to behaviors, attitude and personality. Dream recall frequency was associated with the frequency of experiencing emotionally disturbing dreams and trying to interpret dreams, while detail of dreams was associated with positive attitude toward dreaming and Type B personality. Although males and females both held positive attitudes toward dreaming, females experienced more emotionally disturbing dreams and felt unable to control their dreams. Interactions between personality and gender emerged for behaviors associated with dreaming. Researchers are encouraged to differentiate between dream recall frequency and dream detail.     

Dreamed movement elicits activation in the sensorimotor cortex

Since the discovery of the close association between rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and dreaming, much effort has been devoted to link physiological signatures of REM sleep to the contents of associated dreams [1-4]. Due to the impossibility of experimentally controlling spontaneous dream activity, however, a direct demonstration of dream contents by neuroimaging methods is lacking. By combining brain imaging with polysomnography and exploiting the state of "lucid dreaming," we show here that a predefined motor task performed during dreaming elicits neuronal activation in the sensorimotor cortex. In lucid dreams, the subject is aware of the dreaming state and capable of performing predefined actions while all standard polysomnographic criteria of REM sleep are fulfilled [5, 6]. Using eye signals as temporal markers, neural activity measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was related to dreamed hand movements during lucid REM sleep. Though preliminary, we provide first evidence that specific contents of REM-associated dreaming can be visualized by neuroimaging.     

Sex dreams, wet dreams, and nocturnal emissions.

This study provides an overview of the frequencies and narrative features of sex and wet dreams and investigates the incestuous behavior in the manifest content of dreams. A questionnaire specially designed for capturing both quantitative and qualitative aspects of sex and wet dreams was administered to 58 male participants. More than 80% of participants had dreamed about having vaginal intercourse with a woman. Dreaming of sexual interactions other than vaginal intercourse—such as oral sex—was also common. Consistent with the hypothesis that latent sexual motives or some variation of sexuality that people may not be aware of during the daytime would emerge at night through dreaming, both homosexual and incestuous behaviors were observed in dreams. In addition, the finding indicates that sexual thoughts and motives can be represented by symbols in dreams, and dream impressions involving no erotic scenes are capable of eliciting nocturnal emissions. It seems that sex dreams, wet dreams, and nocturnal emissions without erotic imagery or dreaming can be distinguished from each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream Content and Personality: Thick vs. Thin Boundaries

Using dream diary procedures and statistically controlling for age and gender, the present study investigated the relationship between Hartmann's (1991) boundary concept and various aspects of dreaming. Results with a sample of young adults confirmed earlier findings that persons with thin boundaries recall dreams (including nightmares) more often, report dreams that are more negative and emotionally intense, regard their dreams more favorably (i.e., as more meaningful and creative), and dream more frequently of verbal interaction with others.     

Refocusing the Neurocognitive Approach to Dreams: A Critique of the Hobson Versus Solms Debate.

This article examines the ongoing debate between activation-synthesis theorist J. Allan Hobson and psychoanalytic theorist Mark Solms about the nature of dreaming and dream content. After discussing their neurophysiological disagreements, it argues that they are more similar than different in some important ways, especially in talking about dreams in the same breath as psychosis and in drawing conclusions about dream content on the basis of their neurophysiological assumptions, without any reference to the systematic findings on the issue. Evidence from inside and outside the sleep laboratory on the coherent nature of most dreams is presented to demonstrate that neither theorist is on solid ground in his main assertions. Dreaming is usually a far more realistic and understandable enactment of interests and concerns than the 2 researchers assume. In addition, several of Hobson's and Solms's claims concerning the neural basis of dreaming are challenged on the basis of neurophysiological evidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Invisible Elites? Authority and the Dream

This paper seeks to develop a perspective on the dynamic interplay between dreaming, culture and identity. A spectrum of examples show that dream imagery has had and still has today tremendous cultural significance across a whole array of historical, religious and contemporary political and personal contexts. The visionary dream is shown to have underpinned the charter myths of both Israel and Serbia/Kosovo as well as having been the generative source of a core body of hierarchically organised spiritual knowledge in Islamic societies, possibly including the Taliban. Annunciation and calling dreams are commonplace in shamanic and some other societies and individuals can have dreams that prefigure aspects of their developing personal myths. The power and politics of dreaming is further exemplified in the author's example from his dreamwork group that suggest we can dream within the cultural and oppressive stereotypes of our gendered and racist time. Our experience of reality is presented as being dynamically co-created out of both the normative events of everyday life as well as from the human experience of the dream in its powerful and politically evocative forms.     

Virtual reality training of lucid dreaming

Metacognitive reflections on one''s current state of mind are largely absent during dreaming. Lucid dreaming as the exception to this rule is a rare phenomenon; however, its occurrence can be facilitated through cognitive training. A central idea of respective training strategies is to regularly question one''s phenomenal experience: is the currently experienced world real, or just a dream? Here, we tested if such lucid dreaming training can be enhanced with dream-like virtual reality (VR): over the course of four weeks, volunteers underwent lucid dreaming training in VR scenarios comprising dream-like elements, classical lucid dreaming training or no training. We found that VR-assisted training led to significantly stronger increases in lucid dreaming compared to the no-training condition. Eye signal-verified lucid dreams during polysomnography supported behavioural results. We discuss the potential mechanisms underlying these findings, in particular the role of synthetic dream-like experiences, incorporation of VR content in dream imagery serving as memory cues, and extended dissociative effects of VR session on subsequent experiences that might amplify lucid dreaming training during wakefulness.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Offline perception: voluntary and spontaneous perceptual experiences without matching external stimulation''.     

Children's grief dreams and the theory of spiritual intelligence.

Throughout history, people have reported dreams that have impacted upon their spiritual lives, some of which are related to death. Dreams related to death are not uncommon in childhood, and research shows that some children make meaning from them. Often this interpretation of a dream reflects a search for meaning about issues of life and death, as well as acting as a coping mechanism. This article explores how children make meaning from this type of dream by synthesizing the theory of spiritual intelligence with theoretical approaches to dreaming. Specifically, it explores the intersection between theoretical approaches to dreams related to death, children's responses to these dreams, and a key function of spiritual intelligence to solve problems of meaning and value in life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In Bed With Mark Solms? What a Nightmare! A Reply to Domhoff (2005).

Bill Domhoff (2005) has challenged the activation synthesis model of dreaming on the basis of a misreading of the neurobiological literature and an individualistic view of dream psychology (see record 2005-02950-001). The author begins his reply by clarifying and emphasizing the formal approach to dream cognitions. Instead of focusing on the individual aspects of dreaming that interest Domhoff, activation synthesis strives to identify and measure the generic differences that characterize all dreams and that are likely to correlate with the neurobiological findings. He then goes on to point out that such formal features as the visuomotor imagery, the emotional intensification, and the defective cognition of dreams do correlate with the cellular and molecular neurobiological data from animal studies and with the brain imaging and lesion data from human studies. Individual differences may also exist but these are not relevant to the main task of sleep psychophysiology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reply to Hobson (2005).

J. A. Hobson's (2005) commentary merely repeats his past theoretical assertions (see record 2005-02950-002). It asks questions that rest on the refuted hypothesis that real dreaming occurs only in REM sleep and that are already answered in the author's critique. Despite many studies, there is still no evidence that neurophysiological changes during REM are responsible for any unique formal features in dreams. As for the psychological consequences of the neuromodulatory environment during REM, there are no studies. Most important, Hobson overlooks a key point in regard to a new neurocognitive approach to dreams: The many parallels between dreaming and waking cognition raise the intriguing possibility that relatively small changes from waking to sleeping can account for the unique features of dreams, rendering his REM-based speculations irrelevant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using dreams in cognitive behavioral psychotherapy: Theory, method, and examples.

Dream analysis can be a fruitful complementary technique in cognitive–behavioral therapy, providing it is based on a theoretical conception of dreaming and an interpretation method that are both compatible with the principles and methodology of CBT. The present paper first presents some aspects of a cognitive conception of dreaming explaining the occurrence and specificities of dream representations by their production processes. The next section describes an interpretation method that gives the patients the opportunity to find some sources and meanings of their dreams. Finally examples are given of the different ways in which the result of a dream interpretation contributed to therapy. Thanks to their condensed and often exaggerated treatment of a theme, dreams often facilitate becoming aware of cognitive distortions and schemas and help to proceed to cognitive restructuring. They also give to the therapists an opportunity to underline the patient’s resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do the Blind Literally "See" in Their Dreams? A Critique of a Recent Claim That They Do.

This article provides a critique of a recent inaccurate claim by Bértolo et al (see record 2003-04658-011) that the congenitally blind literally "see" in their dreams, which flies in the face of findings that were established in 3 careful previous studies. It first shows how this claim arose through a blurring of the distinction between actual seeing through the visual system and imagery that preserves spatial and metric properties without specific reliance on the visual system. It then discusses the 3 mistaken reasons for this blurring. This correction is important beyond the specific issue of seeing in dreams because the original findings lend important support for a cognitive theory of dreaming by showing that the imagery necessary for dreaming develops between ages 4 and 7. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychophysiological correlates of lucid dreaming.

The main goal of the present study was to explore electrophysiological differences between lucid and nonlucid dreams in REM sleep. Seven men and four women experienced in lucid dreaming underwent polysomnographic recordings in the sleep laboratory on two consecutive nights. EEG signals were subjected to spectral analysis to obtain five different frequency bands between 1 and 20 Hz. Lucidity was determined by both subjective dream reports and eye-movement signals made by the subjects in response to light stimuli indicating a REM period. The main discrimination factor between lucid and nonlucid dreaming was found in the beta-1 frequency band (13-19 Hz), which in lucid dreaming was increased in both parietal regions. The ratio of frontal to parietal beta-1 activity was 1 to 1.16 in nonlucid and 1 to 1.77 in lucid dreaming. A tendency towards the greatest increase was observed in the left parietal lobe (P3), an area of the brain considered to be related to semantic understanding and self-awareness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's Dreams and Nightmares: Emerging Trends in Research.

New manifest content analysis research on children's dreams and nightmares provides insights into how dreaming reveals developmental changes over time. Five culturally diverse research studies were conducted with varied methods for dream collection that included laboratory-collected dreams, as well as written journals, audiotaped dreams, and retrospectively recalled dreams. As children grow older, they are more able to recall dreams, dream narratives increase in length, and dreams are characterized by decreasing levels of passive victimization and have more elaborate character interactions. Age and gender differences in recall, interactions, and gender of dream characters indicate that dream research is a fertile area for studying child development and the changing function of dreams over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arousability and Dreaming

This study finds that dream valence and the frequency with which several types of dreams were experienced are related to arousability. Specifically, compared to 214 university students who were classified as low in arousability, 182 university students who were high in arousability reported more frequent dreams for all seven types of dreams measured. This relationship between arousability and dreaming was especially salient for the three types of nightmares, (i.e., Fantastic Nightmares, Posttraumatic Nightmares, and Night Terrors) that were measured.