Metacognition, Top-Down Processing, and Memory Reconsolidation

Abstract

The ultimate goal of dream interpretation is to increase consciousness, and a neurobiological model of dreams would share this objective. As discussed in previous chapters, by enhancing access to dreams, a hypothesis connecting Jung’s symbolic approach to dreamwork with the neurobiology of integration is proposed. Symbolic amplification of dream images demonstrates a top-down, subjective engagement with dreams. Dream interpretations from a convergent perspective predict how complexes and episodic memories expand the symbolic range of dreams. Dreamwork with a more refined bottom-up perspective increases the experience of salience, coherence, and subjective self-awareness, echoing the feeling-tone Jung described. In neurobiology, the process of memory reconsolidation approaches the emotional truth of an episodic memory, offering the chance to unlearn the symptom (i.e., the complex) through the dream. Viewed through this lens, dreamwork provides evidence that consciousness arises within the nine domains of integration in interpersonal neurobiology. The ongoing curiosity about dreams, emotions, and memory leads to the proposal that interpersonal neurobiology enhances the relatability of Jung’s dream interpretations.