Communing with the Gods: The Dreaming Brain in Cross-cultural Perspective
Time and Mind 2011 DOI: 10.2752/175169711x12961583765252 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Phenomenological study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Dream Consciousness Perspective graphical Confusion Context archaeology Neuropsychology Phenomenon Psychoanalysis Epistemology Cognition |
| Citations | 16 |
| Key points | The prefrontal cortex is involved in lucid dreaming. |
Abstract
The most common alternative state of consciousness among human beings is dreaming. All normal humans sleep, and during sleep they dream. Still, dreaming is a phenomenon of mystery and confusion for many Westerners, and of fascination to scientists wishing to understand how the mind works, both in terms of neuropsychology and within the context of culture. The neuropsychology of dreaming is summarized and the importance of cross-cultural research emphasized. Examples of common uses to which dreaming is put by different societies is discussed. The author's phenomenological study of Tibetan Tantric dream yoga is described. Improvements of the anthropological study and account of dreaming are suggested, and the importance of the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in lucidity emphasized.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Other as a Nightmare: The Israeli-Arab Encounter as Reflected in Children's Dreams in Israel and the West Bank Jewish and Arab fifth to seventh graders living in various settings in Israel and the... | 1989 | Qualitative content analysis | n = 212 |
| Nonwaking Responses to Waking Stressors: Dreams and Nightmares1 Men from the cohort eligible for military duty during the Vietnam Conflict, varying in... | 1990 | Survey interview study | n = 442 |
| Partial memory reinstatement while (lucid) dreaming to change the dream environment. Lucid dreamers | 2020 | Qualitative study | |
| Strange themes in pandemic dreams: Insomnia was associated with more negative, anxious and death‐related dreams during the COVID‐19 pandemic Global survey participants | 2022 | Longitudinal mixed-methods study | n = 2,240 |
| Dreamers as agents making strategizing efforts exemplify core aggregate of executive function in non-lucid dreaming Archived cross-cultural dreams | 2012 | Qualitative study using grounded theory |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
- Gauging oneiromancy—the cognition of dream content and cultural transmission of (supernatural) divination Religion, Brain & Behavior March 10, 2023
- Imagery of ritual actions in religious dreaming: steps toward a theory and method of the cognition of dreamt ritual interaction Religion November 21, 2023
Cites 14
- Functional neuroanatomy of altered states of consciousness: The transient hypofrontality hypothesis Consciousness and Cognition May 19, 2003
- Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Sleep September 1, 2009
- Religion, Altered States of Consciousness, and Social Change Review of Religious Research 1976
- Altered States of Consciousness within a General Evolutionary Perspective: A Holocultural Analysis Behavior Science Research August 1, 1977
- The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up heiDOK (Heidelberg University) 2009
and 9 more in the library