Sleep and dreaming in the light of reactive and predictive homeostasis.
Péter Simor, Philippe Peigneux, Róbert Bódizs
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews April 1, 2023 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105104 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Homeostasis Memory Mind-wandering Prospection Sleep |
| Key points | Proposes that dreaming and dream amnesia are inherent aspects of sleep's reactive and predictive homeostatic functions, with awakening's goal-directed prospection competing for neural resources and contributing to forgetting. |
Abstract
Dreams are often viewed as fascinating but irrelevant mental epihenomena of the sleeping mind with questionable functional relevance. Despite long hours of oneiric activity, and high individual differences in dream recall, dreams are lost into oblivion. Here, we conceptualize dreaming and dream amnesia as inherent aspects of the reactive and predictive homeostatic functions of sleep. Mental activity during sleep conforms to the interplay of restorative processes and future anticipation, and particularly during the second half of the night, it unfolds as a special form of non-constrained, self-referent, and future-oriented cognitive process. Awakening facilitates constrained, goal-directed prospection that competes for shared neural resources with dream production and dream recall, and contributes to dream amnesia. We present the neurophysiological aspects of reactive and predictive homeostasis during sleep, highlighting the putative role of cortisol in predictive homeostasis and forgetting dreams. The theoretical and methodological aspects of our proposal are discussed in relation to the study of dreaming, dream recall, and sleep-related cognitive processes.
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 5
- Reduced REM and N2 sleep, and lower dream intensity predict increased mind-wandering Sleep November 16, 2023
- The return to normal life: sleep, anxiety upon awakening, and nightmares following the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic Frontiers in Sleep June 24, 2026
- Local REM sleep-N1-wake sleep stage mixing in narcolepsy type 1 medRxiv February 17, 2026
- The association of brain injury severity with dream cessation and nightmares. Neuropsychologia June 19, 2025
- Characteristics of psychiatric patients with nightmares after suvorexant administration: A retrospective study. Neuropsychopharmacology Reports November 29, 2024
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and 52 more in the library