The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes.
Serena Scarpelli, Chiara Bartolacci, Aurora D'Atri, Maurizio Gorgoni, Luigi De Gennaro
Frontiers in Psychology 2019 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00459 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming PTSD |
| Keywords | Rem sleep Emotional memories Narcolepsy Nightmares Theta oscillations |
| Key findings | REM theta oscillations play a crucial role in emotional re-processing during dreaming, and dream experience can defuse emotional traumatic memories when emotional regulation and fear extinction are compromised. |
Abstract
Dream experience (DE) represents a fascinating condition linked to emotional processes and the human inner world. Although the overlap between REM sleep and dreaming has been overcome, several studies point out that emotional and perceptually vivid contents are more frequent when reported upon awakenings from this sleep stage. Actually, it is well-known that REM sleep plays a pivotal role in the processing of salient and emotional waking-life experiences, strongly contributing to the emotional memory consolidation. In this vein, we highlighted that, to some extent, neuroimaging studies showed that the processes that regulate dreaming and emotional salience in sleep mentation share similar neural substrates of those controlling emotions during wakefulness. Furthermore, the research on EEG correlates of the presence/absence of DE and the results on EEG pattern related to the incorporated memories converged to assign a crucial role of REM theta oscillations in emotional re-processing. In particular, the theta activity is involved in memory processes during REM sleep as well as during the waking state, in line with the continuity hypothesis. Also, the gamma activity seems to be related to emotional processes and dream recall as well as to lucid dreams. Interestingly, similar EEG correlates of DE have been found in clinical samples when nightmares or dreams occur. Research on clinical samples revealed that promoting the rehearsal of frightening contents aimed to change them is a promising method to treat nightmares, and that lucid dreams are associated with an attenuation of nightmares. In this view, DE can defuse emotional traumatic memories when the emotional regulation and the fear extinction mechanisms are compromised by traumatic and frightening events. Finally, dreams could represent a sort of simulation of reality, providing the possibility to create a new scenario with emotional mastery elements to cope with dysphoric items included in nightmares. In addition, it could be hypothesized that the insertion of bizarre items besides traumatic memories might be functional to "impoverish" the negative charge of the experiences.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The cognitive neuroscience of lucid dreaming | 2019 | Review | |
| Sleep and dreaming are for important matters | 2013 | Review | |
| Nightmare Disorder and Isolated Sleep Paralysis | 2020 | Review | |
| My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares? | 2019 | Review | |
| Dream Recall: State or Trait Variable? Part I: Model, Theories, Methodology and Trait Factors | 1996 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 82
- My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares? Frontiers in Psychology 2019
- What about dreams? State of the art and open questions Journal of Sleep Research April 13, 2022
- Pandemic Nightmares: COVID-19 Lockdown Associated With Increased Aggression in Female University Students' Dreams Frontiers in Psychology March 5, 2021
- Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience May 29, 2018
- N,N‐dimethyltryptamine and Amazonian ayahuasca plant medicine Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental February 17, 2022
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Cites 61
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- Lucid Dreaming Treatment for Nightmares: A Pilot Study Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 2006
- Lucid Dreaming as a Treatment for Recurrent Nightmares Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics February 18, 2010
- Lucid Dreaming in Narcolepsy Sleep February 27, 2015
- Sleep and dreaming are for important matters Frontiers in Psychology 2013
and 56 more in the library