University Library Heidelberg
June 26, 2018
Patrick Mcnamara, Kelly Duffy-Deno, Tom Marsh et al.
11 citations
An artificial intelligence algorithm trained on over 35,000 dreams from 635 users identified 47 reliably recurring dream themes, building on prior dream content ontologies. Female dreams showed higher incidence for most themes compared to male dreams, though effect sizes were small. The algorithm also identified which themes best predicted whether a dream was associated with positive or negative mood. The AI-based system is a promising tool for analyzing dream content patterns.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
January 1, 2024
Patrick Mcnamara, Jordan Grafman
8 citations
Religious and spiritual experiences depend on interactions among three large-scale brain networks: the default mode network, the frontoparietal network, and the salience network. This pattern aligns with the Triple Network Model of neuropsychiatric function. A cycling version of that model can explain the neural basis of ecstatic seizures, brain scans of religious participants, psychedelic mystical states, and perceptions of supernatural agents. To fully account for perceptions of supernatural agents, REM sleep and dreaming mechanisms likely play a role. Future work should explore how such perceptions develop and how brain-mediated religious beliefs affect in-group cohesion and out-group hostility.
Evolutionary Psychology
January 1, 2007
Patrick Mcnamara, Reka Szent-Imrey
7 citations
Dreams, especially during REM sleep, may function as costly signals that shape waking behavior. Drawing on Costly Signaling Theory, the authors argue that dream content often portrays the dreamer as handicapped—lacking clothes, money, or under threat—and that the emotional residue of such dreams carries over into daytime life. This creates a mental set that leads the dreamer to subtly display a handicapped self through intense emotions or demeanor. Sharing dreams with others amplifies this effect, allowing the dreamer to adopt a self-handicapping strategy in social interactions, which serves a vital communicative goal.
Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior
December 1, 2023
Patrick Mcnamara
5 citations
Grafman and colleagues' research shows that religious beliefs and behaviors are mediated by standard social cognitive networks in the brain, but their work also points beyond treating religious cognition as merely a type of general social cognition. Data from experiments targeting mystical states and reports of encounters with supernatural agents during controlled psychedelic experiments suggest that brain mediation of such experiences involves both disruption or downregulation of social cognitive networks and activation of an additional, partially identified neural process. This indicates that a full neuroscience account of religious beliefs, behaviors, and experiences must extend beyond treating religion as an ordinary social process.
Scientific Reports
May 3, 2025
John Balch, Rachel Raider, Chanel Reed et al.
1 citation
Dreams are intensely social, populated by both strangers and known individuals. Over two weeks, most participant dreams included strangers alongside familiar people, and personality traits influenced the types of characters appearing. Comparing dream reports to participants' core support networks and daily diaries showed that relationship-specific factors and daily interaction predicted whether known individuals appeared in dreams. While daily contact generally increased the likelihood of dreaming about someone, the opposite held for close family members like parents or siblings, suggesting dreams may compensate for their absence by maintaining those relationships.
Cambridge University Press eBooks
June 12, 2026
Patrick Mcnamara
The author examines how group minds influence dream content, proposing that lucid dreamers can consciously interact with these collective influences. Typical dreams are described as deeply social, often featuring interactions with characters representing the dreamer's group memberships.
Cambridge University Press eBooks
June 12, 2026
Patrick Mcnamara
The author argues that certain experiences induced by serotonergic psychedelics can be understood as unstructured access to the content of group minds, and that ego dissolution during these experiences represents a fusion between the individual and a salient group mind. The paper examines whether and how people can voluntarily access and benefit from such group mind content.
March 31, 2026
Patrick Mcnamara
Dreams have historically contributed to religious consciousness, and religions have shaped dream content. Many religions originated from a founder's dream or vision. In the Abrahamic faiths, dreams are prominent; Jacob's ladder dream is a famous example, where Jacob dreamt of a ladder to heaven with angels, renaming the site Bethel, now a pilgrimage site. Joseph and Daniel were dream interpreters. Jesus's birth was announced to Joseph in a dream, as recounted in Matthew 1:20–21.
Consciousness and Cognition
July 1, 2024
John Balch, Rachel Raider, Joni Keith et al.
People who have more dissociative experiences during the day also tend to have more nightmares, lucid dreams, and beliefs in paranormal phenomena, and they take longer to fall asleep. The coherence and perspective of dreams—specifically how stable and first-person the dreamed self feels—predicts about 26% of the variation in dissociative symptoms. These findings suggest that REM sleep intruding into waking consciousness may contribute to some dissociative experiences. The results come from 219 volunteers who completed surveys including the Dissociative Experiences Scale, plus dream reports and sleep measures from a subgroup. The authors propose that dream content stability could be a useful indicator of dissociative tendencies and that treating nightmare distress might help reduce dissociation.
Cambridge University Press eBooks
February 21, 2019
Patrick Mcnamara
Dreams occurring in REM and NREM sleep differ in content and phenomenology, but these two categories do not cover the full range of dream experiences. Compared to REM dreams, NREM dreams are typically less story-like and bizarre, involve fewer aggressive social interactions, and include more friendly interactions, particularly those initiated by the dreamer.
January 1, 2011
Patrick Mcnamara
A two-volume work reviews spirit possession across history and cultures, from the upper Paleolithic era to the present, examining cases where individuals appear overtaken by an unseen entity that replaces their soul, causing symptoms like levitation, speaking in tongues, and physical distortion. It addresses phenomenological, psychological, and neurobiological aspects, as well as societal effects. Volume one covers historical periods, while volume two focuses on case studies and exorcism rites.
Journal of Sleep Research
June 9, 2001
Patrick Mcnamara, Jensine Andresen, Jill Clark et al.
People with insecure attachment styles are more likely to recall dreams and report more intense, emotional dream imagery than those with secure attachment. In one study, college students high on an insecure attachment scale reported more frequent dreams and stronger emotional content than those low on the scale. In a second study of 76 older adults, those with a 'preoccupied' attachment style recalled dreams more often and with more words than those with secure, avoidant, or dismissing styles. Avoidant participants had the lowest dream recall. The findings suggest that REM sleep and dreaming may help support attachment processes.