How Adversarial REM Dreams May Facilitate Creativity, and Why We Become Aware of Them
Nicolas Deperrois, Mihai A. Petrovici, Jakob Jordan, Lukas S. Huber, Walter Senn
Clinical and Translational Neuroscience June 26, 2024 DOI: 10.3390/ctn8020021 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Sleep model Generative adversarial networks Creativity Memory consolidation Semantization |
| Citations | 2 |
| Key points | Proposes that REM dreams involve an adversarial process that trains a discriminator network to classify internally generated sensory activity as real, facilitating the emergence of real-world semantic representations in higher cortical areas and contributing to learning and creativity. |
Abstract
The importance of sleep for healthy brain function is widely acknowledged. However, it remains unclear how the internal generation of dreams might facilitate cognitive processes. In this perspective, we review a computational approach inspired by artificial intelligence that proposes a framework for how dreams occurring during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep can contribute to learning and creativity. In this framework, REM dreams are characterized by an adversarial process that, against the dream reality, tells a discriminator network to classify the internally created sensory activity as real. Such an adversarial dreaming process is shown to facilitate the emergence of real-world semantic representations in higher cortical areas. We further discuss the potential contributions of adversarial dreaming beyond learning, such as balancing fantastic and realistic dream elements and facilitating the occurrence of creative insights. We characterize non-REM (NREM) dreams, where a single hippocampal memory is replayed at a time, as serving the complementary role of improving the robustness of cortical representations to environmental perturbations. We finally explain how subjects can become aware of the adversarial REM dreams, but less of the NREM dreams, and how content- and state-awareness in wake, dream, and lucid dreaming may appear.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dreaming: a conceptual framework for philosophy of mind and empirical research | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming | 2015 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Varieties of Lucid Dreaming Experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 22
- The cognitive neuroscience of lucid dreaming Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews March 14, 2019
- Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. Current Biology April 12, 2021
- Increased creative thinking in narcolepsy. Brain July 1, 2019
- Spotlight on dream recall: the ages of dreams Nature and Science of Sleep 2018
- Incidence of Threat in Dreams: A Response to Revonsuo's Threat Simulation Theory. Dreaming December 1, 2004
and 17 more in the library