Dreaming and offline memory consolidation.
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports March 1, 2014 DOI: 10.1007/s11910-013-0433-5 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Memory reactivation and consolidation during sleep influences dream content. |
Abstract
Converging evidence suggests that dreaming is influenced by the consolidation of memory during sleep. Following encoding, recently formed memory traces are gradually stabilized and reorganized into a more permanent form of long-term storage. Sleep provides an optimal neurophysiological state to facilitate this process, allowing memory networks to be repeatedly reactivated in the absence of new sensory input. The process of memory reactivation and consolidation in the sleeping brain appears to influence conscious experience during sleep, contributing to dream content recalled on awakening. This article outlines several lines of evidence in support of this hypothesis, and responds to some common objections.
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 50
- Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming Frontiers in Psychology August 18, 2015
- Characteristics of the memory sources of dreams: A new version of the content-matching paradigm to take mundane and remote memories into account PLoS One October 11, 2017
- Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience May 29, 2018
- Incorporation of fragmented visuo-olfactory episodic memory into dreams and its association with memory performance Scientific Reports October 30, 2019
- A Novel Approach to Dream Content Analysis Reveals Links Between Learning-Related Dream Incorporation and Cognitive Abilities Frontiers in Psychology August 6, 2018
and 45 more in the library
Cites 8
- Experience-dependent induction of hypnagogic images during daytime naps: a combined behavioural and EEG study. Journal of Sleep Research February 1, 2012
- Assessing the dream-lag effect for REM and NREM stage 2 dreams. PLoS One 2011
- Cognitive replay of visuomotor learning at sleep onset: temporal dynamics and relationship to task performance. Sleep 2010
- Dreaming and episodic memory: a functional dissociation? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2003
- Memory sources associated with REM and NREM dream reports throughout the night: a new look at the data. Sleep March 1, 2001
and 3 more in the library