Dreams and Hallucinations
Mark Solms, Oliver Hugh Turnbull
April 24, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9780429481239-6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that studying dreaming's brain mechanisms is methodologically difficult and that REM sleep imaging may conflate the REM state with dreaming. Suggests neural mechanisms of dreaming overlap with those of psychosis, especially hallucinations. Cites the strongest claim that 90–95% of REM awakenings produce dream reports versus 5–10% of non-REM awakenings. |
Abstract
This chapter deals with methodological questions regarding how brain mechanisms of dreaming. Dreams are notoriously difficult to investigate scientifically. Any discussion of the brain mechanisms of dreaming cannot begin before the phenomenon of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep has been introduced, because REM sleep has become widely known as “dreaming sleep.” During such investigation of the state of the brain during REM sleep, one is probably imaging two different states simultaneously: the REM state and dreaming. The neural mechanisms of dreaming appear to overlap in several important respects with the neural mechanisms of certain core features of psychosis, especially the positive symptoms such as hallucinations. Through functional brain imaging, it is possible to obtain a graphic representation of the brain of a healthy living subject and to observe where neural activity is greatest during certain mental states. The strongest claim is that 90–95% of awakenings from REM sleep produce dream reports, whereas only 5–10% of awakenings from non-REM sleep produce equivalent reports.