Exploring the neural correlates of dream phenomenology and altered states of consciousness during sleep
Julian Mutz, Amir-Homayoun Javadi
Neuroscience of Consciousness 2017 DOI: 10.1093/nc/nix009 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Altered states of consciousness Philosophy of mind |
| Citations | 53 |
| Key findings | Dreaming occurs during both REM and non-REM sleep, with differences in phenomenological characteristics, and lucid dreaming provides insight into consciousness during sleep. |
Abstract
The science of dreaming constitutes a relevant topic in modern-day neuroscientific research and provides major insights into the study of human consciousness. Linking specific, universal, and regularly occurring stages of sleep with dreaming encourages the direct and systematic investigation of a topic that has fascinated humankind for centuries. In this review, we explore to what extent individuals dream during periods of rapid eye movement and non-rapid eye movement sleep, and we introduce research on lucid dreaming. We then discuss how dreaming during different stages of sleep varies in terms of phenomenological characteristics, and to what extent individuals are conscious throughout the sleep cycle. Finally, we provide a synopsis of the previous literature on brain activity during sleep, and we aim to clarify how the neurofunctional changes observed throughout sleep may lead to changes in phenomenological aspects of dreams, and in the domain of consciousness.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on altered states of consciousness, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Subjective Effects of Psychedelics Are Necessary for Their Enduring Therapeutic Effects. | 2020 | Review | |
| Psychobiology of Altered States of Consciousness. | 2005 | Review | |
| Intrinsic Brain Activity in Altered States of Consciousness | 2008 | Review | |
| Dynamic functional connectivity and brain metastability during altered states of consciousness | 2017 | Review | |
| A default mode of brain function in altered states of consciousness. | 2013 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 19
- Increased Awakenings From Non-rapid Eye Movement Sleep Explain Differences in Dream Recall Frequency in Healthy Individuals Frontiers in Human Neuroscience October 15, 2019
- The Dream Catcher experiment: blinded analyses failed to detect markers of dreaming consciousness in EEG spectral power. Neuroscience of Consciousness 2020
- Do animals dream? Consciousness and Cognition October 1, 2021
- The dynamic framework of mind wandering revisited: How mindful meta-awareness affects mental states' constraints. Consciousness and Cognition October 1, 2021
- Dream lucidity positively correlates with reality monitoring. Consciousness and Cognition October 1, 2022
and 14 more in the library
Cites 62
- On a confusion about a function of consciousness Behavioral and Brain Sciences June 1, 1995
- Detecting Awareness in the Vegetative State Science September 7, 2006
- Breakdown of Cortical Effective Connectivity During Sleep Science September 29, 2005
- The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2014
- Are There Levels of Consciousness? Trends in Cognitive Sciences April 22, 2016
and 57 more in the library