Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
June 15, 2020
Valentina Gnoni, Sean Higgins, Alexander David Nesbitt et al.
12 citations
Three patients with non-REM parasomnias experienced episodes of Cotard delusion—believing they were dead or dying and unable to perceive their bodies as their own. These nihilistic mentations occurred during confusional arousals from sleep and were accompanied by panic. EEG source analysis indicated right-hemispheric hypoactivity during the episodes. The authors argue that aberrant activation of the salience network and default mode network—two major intrinsic networks of wakefulness—underlies these states. Such dreamlike mentations are rarely remembered and likely underreported, but can cause significant distress and worsen clinical outcomes if unaddressed.
Nature and Science of Sleep
March 1, 2024
Qi Rui See, Kausar Raheel, Iain Duncan et al.
8 citations
Patients with idiopathic REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (iRBD) and those with Non-Rapid Eye Movement Parasomnia (NREMP) differ not only in the content of their morning dream recalls but also in the structural organization of those recalls. iRBD patients were more likely to recall dreams and had more white dreams (feeling of having dreamt without memory). Speech graph analysis revealed that iRBD dream reports had stable, linear sequential structures, while NREMP dream reports were more recursive and less stable, with higher graph connectivity scores. These findings suggest distinct underlying mechanisms for dream recall in these two sleep disorders.
Croatian Medical Journal
December 1, 2022
Omolade Longe, A. Omodan, Guy Leschziner et al.
8 citations
A scoping review of 16 high-quality studies from high-income countries examined dream and dreamlike mentation content in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnias. Emotions such as apprehension and misfortune were associated with sleepwalking and sleep terrors. There was a scarcity of literature on sexsomnia, sleep-related eating disorder, and confusional arousal. The review concludes that collecting dream content immediately after NREM parasomnia episodes could reduce reporting bias and improve data quality.
Journal of Sleep Research
June 1, 2025
Liborio Parrino, Francesco Rausa, Giulia Balella et al.
4 citations
REM sleep plays a crucial role in emotional recovery, with studies showing that 60% of participants experience REM rebound after deprivation. Historical discoveries by pioneers like Aserinsky and Kleitman established its unique characteristics, including a blend of brain activation and muscle atonia. The review emphasizes REM sleep homeostasis and its periodicity within ultradian rhythms. It also explores the complex relationship between arousals, sleep, and consciousness, highlighting notable distinctions between non-REM and REM sleep-related arousals, revealing their similarities to wakefulness.
Frontiers in Sleep
September 11, 2025
Nazanin Biabani, Martina Mulas, Carlotta Mutti et al.
2 citations
A 7-year history of vivid, immersive dreaming perceived as continuous with waking life, accompanied by persistent dream-reality confusion, is described in a younger individual. The patient engaged in reality-testing behaviors and reported significant cognitive fatigue. Video-polysomnography confirmed REM sleep without atonia and a dream re-enactment episode. Neuropsychiatric evaluation ruled out dissociative or psychotic disorders, and no neurodegenerative disease was observed. The case suggests a potentially distinct, non-neurodegenerative REM parasomnia phenotype, highlighting the need to expand current classifications to capture cognitive and metacognitive dimensions of REM sleep disorders. Potential mechanisms involving melanin-concentrating hormone signaling are discussed.
Journal of Sleep Research
October 3, 2024
Carlotta Mutti, Francesca Siclari, Ivana Rosenzweig
2 citations
Dreaming is an involuntary cognitive process that occurs during sleep. While dreams have been studied since ancient times and became important in psychoanalysis, scientific research accelerated after the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in the 1950s. This review brings together current findings on the neurobiological and psychological aspects of dreaming, covering what affects dream recall and content, the brain activity associated with dreaming, experimental models used to study dreams, and what these insights mean for clinical practice.
npj Biological Timing and Sleep
June 22, 2026
I. Papp, Zoran Cvetković, Nazanin Biabani et al.
Nightmare disorder involves not only REM sleep but also altered NREM sleep physiology. In a retrospective case-control study of 26 adults with nightmare disorder and 32 controls, those with nightmare disorder showed reduced frontal slow-oscillation–spindle coupling, while delta–spindle coupling remained normal, resulting in lower coupling dominance. Stage-adjusted K-complex density across the first 6 hours of sleep was also lower in the nightmare disorder group. These findings suggest that nightmare disorder involves changes in NREM sleep microarchitecture, not just REM sleep, and warrant prospective confirmation.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
May 1, 2013
Zoran Vukadinovic, Merrill S Herman, Ivana Rosenzweig
Cannabis use is a strong environmental risk factor for schizophrenia, but the mechanism is unknown. This theoretical paper argues that exogenous cannabinoids may directly affect T-type calcium channels in the thalamus. These channels are critical for amplifying corticothalamic inputs and generating neuronal burst firing, which is important for trans-thalamic cortico-cortical interactions. Interference with burst firing could impair these interactions, leading to a relative disconnection between cortical areas, reduced ability to recognize re-afferent sensory inputs, and psychosis. Δ(9)THC may be more detrimental than cannabidiol because it increases thalamic neuron excitability through its direct effect on T-type calcium channels.