Nature and Science of Sleep
January 1, 2018
Anastasia Mangiaruga, Serena Scarpelli, Chiara Bartolacci et al.
40 citations
Brain and sleep maturation change across life stages, and dream generation and recall depend on neural development. This review examines dreaming in infancy, adulthood, and old age, assessing whether dream mentation reflects underlying brain activity and cognitive processes. In children, weak evidence links cognitive skills to dream features, but infantile amnesia, confabulation, and limited language are confounding factors. In adults, evidence suggests shared neural mechanisms between waking cognition and dream features. Elderly people commonly report lower dream recall frequency, attributed to diminished interest or possibly age-related cognitive decline. The authors note a lack of longitudinal psychophysiological studies and recommend future research collecting dream reports upon awakening with neurobiological and cognitive measures.
Brain Sciences
June 3, 2020
Serena Scarpelli, Aurora D'Atri, Chiara Bartolacci et al.
Among older adults, those who recall dreams show higher cortical arousal during NREM sleep than those who do not. In a study of 20 elders, dream recallers had lower delta power over parietal areas and higher activation index (delta/beta power) in fronto-temporal and parieto-occipital regions compared to non-recallers. No differences appeared in the last five minutes before awakening. Visual vividness and dream length correlated positively with arousal level. The findings support the activation hypothesis, which links dream recall to brain arousal, and highlight the temporo-parietal-occipital zone as crucial for storing dream content.
Nature and Science of Sleep
January 1, 2020
Serena Scarpelli, Chiara Bartolacci, Aurora D'Atri et al.
Dream recall is associated with higher brain activation during REM sleep, regardless of the time of night. Theta, delta, and beta EEG bands were analyzed in 10 subjects who underwent multiple awakenings during REM sleep across the night. Results showed no significant effect of time of night or interaction, but significant differences in beta band activity over the occipital area and in the delta/beta activation index over the parietal area. These findings support the activation-hypothesis, which links dream recall to desynchronized EEG activity, and suggest that such recall is related to state-like factors rather than homeostatic pressure.
Frontiers in Neurology
January 1, 2019
Serena Scarpelli, Aurora D'Atri, Chiara Bartolacci et al.
Frontal theta oscillations during the last five minutes of REM sleep predict whether older adults will recall a dream upon waking, replicating a pattern previously established in young adults. In a study of 21 healthy older volunteers (mean age 69.2) and 20 young adults (mean age 23.4), dream recall occurred when REM sleep showed rhythmic frontal theta activity. No interaction between age and recall status was found, indicating the same brain activity supports dream recall in both age groups. Theta oscillations were more abundant in young participants, and the authors distinguish this rhythmic theta from non-rhythmic theta linked to sleepiness or clinical cortical slowing.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2019
Serena Scarpelli, Chiara Bartolacci, Aurora D'Atri et al.
Dream experience is linked to emotional processes and the inner world. REM sleep plays a key role in processing emotional waking-life experiences and consolidating emotional memories. Neuroimaging studies show that neural substrates regulating dreaming and emotional salience in sleep mentation overlap with those controlling emotions during wakefulness. REM theta oscillations are crucial for emotional re-processing and memory processes during REM sleep, while gamma activity relates to emotional processes, dream recall, and lucid dreams. In clinical samples, similar EEG correlates appear with nightmares or dreams. Rehearsing frightening content to change it is a promising treatment for nightmares, and lucid dreams attenuate nightmares.