Homing in on consciousness: Why is a dream conscious?
Behavioral and Brain Sciences January 1, 2016 Helene Sophrin Porte
Consciousness in dreams serves the same function as waking consciousness: adaptive voluntary action. The article examines how dream contents enter the conscious field and what properties dream consciousness has, building on Morsella et al.'s theory that consciousness is for guiding voluntary behavior. It raises two prior questions: the mechanism by which contents become conscious during dreams and the distinctive features of dream consciousness itself.