If waking and dreaming consciousness became de-differentiated, would schizophrenia result?
Sue Llewellyn
Consciousness and Cognition April 16, 2011 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2011.03.022 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Brain Humans Emotions Cognition Consciousness Dreams Memory Psychomotor performance Wakefulness Schizophrenia Schizophrenic psychology Models, neurological Sleep wake disorders |
| Key points | Argues that waking and dreaming consciousness are differentiated by reciprocal, self-organizing neuromodulatory systems, and that loss of this self-organization produces a hybrid state of de-differentiation that may lead to psychiatric disorders, ultimately schizophrenia, which the author characterizes as a disorganized-fragmented self. |
Abstract
If both waking and dreaming consciousness are functional, their de-differentiation would be doubly detrimental. Differentiation between waking and dreaming is achieved through neuromodulation. During dreaming, without external sensory data and with mesolimbic dopaminergic input, hyper-cholinergic input almost totally suppresses the aminergic system. During waking, with sensory gates open, aminergic modulation inhibits cholinergic and mesocortical dopaminergic suppresses mesolimbic. These neuromodulatory systems are reciprocally interactive and self-organizing. As a consequence of neuromodulatory reciprocity, phenomenologically, the self and the world that appear during dreaming differ from those that emerge during waking. As a result of self-organizing, the self and the world in both states are integrated. Some loss of self-organization would precipitate a degree of de-differentiation between waking and dreaming, resulting in a hybrid state which would be expressed heterogeneously, both neurobiologically and phenomenologically. As a consequence of progressive de-differentiation, certain identifiable psychiatric disorders may emerge. Ultimately, schizophrenia, a disorganized-fragmented self, may result.
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
Cited by 6
- Insight and Dissociation in Lucid Dreaming and Psychosis Frontiers in Psychology November 12, 2018
- The neurocognition of dreaming: key questions and foci. Emerging topics in life sciences December 22, 2023
- Reactions to Dream Content: Continuity and Non-continuity. Frontiers in Psychology December 3, 2019
- Consciousness across Sleep and Wake: Discontinuity and Continuity of Memory Experiences As a Reflection of Consolidation Processes. Frontiers in Psychiatry 2017
- Free Energy and Virtual Reality in Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis: A Complexity Theory of Dreaming and Mental Disorder. Frontiers in Psychology 2016
and 1 more in the library
Cites 21
- Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 2003
- An information integration theory of consciousness BMC Neuroscience November 2, 2004
- Consciousness as Integrated Information: a Provisional Manifesto Biological Bulletin December 1, 2008
- From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. Schizophrenia Research November 1, 2005
- Functional neuroanatomy of altered states of consciousness: The transient hypofrontality hypothesis Consciousness and Cognition May 19, 2003
and 16 more in the library