Sleep talking: A viable access to mental processes during sleep.
Valentina Alfonsi, Aurora D'Atri, Serena Scarpelli, Anastasia Mangiaruga, Luigi De Gennaro
Sleep Medicine Reviews April 1, 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2018.12.001 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Memory consolidation Parasomnia Psycholinguistics Sleep mentation Sleep talking Somniloquy |
| Key findings | Sleep talking utterances reflect ongoing dream content and may provide direct access to dreamlike mental experience. |
Abstract
Sleep talking is one of the most common altered nocturnal behaviours in the whole population. It does not represent a pathological condition and consists in the unaware production of vocalisations during sleep. Although in the last few decades we have experienced a remarkable increase in knowledge about cognitive processes and behavioural manifestations during sleep, the literature regarding sleep talking remains dated and fragmentary. We first provide an overview of historical and recent findings regarding sleep talking, and we then discuss the phenomenon in the context of mental activity during sleep. It is shown that verbal utterances, reflecting the ongoing dream content, may represent the unique possibility to access the dreamlike mental experience directly. Furthermore, we discuss such phenomena within a cognitive theoretical framework, considering both the atypical activation of psycholinguistic circuits during sleep and the implications of verbal 'replay' of recent learning in memory consolidation. Despite current knowledge on such a common experience being far from complete, an in-depth analysis of sleep talking episodes could offer interesting opportunities to address fundamental questions on dreaming or information processing during sleep. Further systematic polysomnographic and neuroimaging investigations are expected to shed new light on the manifestation of the phenomenon and related aspects.
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 13
- What about dreams? State of the art and open questions Journal of Sleep Research April 13, 2022
- Investigation on Neurobiological Mechanisms of Dreaming in the New Decade Brain Sciences February 11, 2021
- Do animals dream? Consciousness and Cognition October 1, 2021
- Associations between self‐reported parasomnias and psychiatric illness in 370,000 patients with sleep disorders Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences August 30, 2024
- Conscious experiences during non-rapid eye movement sleep parasomnias Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews October 16, 2024
and 8 more in the library
Cites 31
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and 26 more in the library