Transcript Consciousness & Causality - Queen Mary University of London

Dreams
Dr Magda Osman
Room 2.25
Office hours Mondays & Tuesday
Dream Phenomenology I
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Hypnagogic State (Mavromatis, 1983)
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Implies different levels of consciousness – transitional states from
wakefulness to sleep, sleep to wakefulness
Onset of sleep – or from sleep to wakefulness
Characterized by stasis,
Multi-sensory
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NREM Sleep
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vivid imagery, auditory, visual hallucinations
10-40% report static images or isolated thoughts
REM Sleep
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70-80% report dreams when woken during this stage of sleep
Under this state the images usually form a narrative
Dream Phenomenology I
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Originally
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) first to report dream recall
rates of about 80% after awakenings from REM sleep and
only 7% from awakenings from NREM sleep
However,
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Mental activity occurs through all stages of sleep (Foulkes
& Schmidt, 1983)
There is no relationship between eye movements during
REM and the visual imagery in dreaming.
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This was demonstrated in studies showing that congenitally
blind subjects also show REM, and that they also show
dissociations – they have visual imagery dreams but
unaccompanied by REM. (Koulack, 1972)
However some suggest that there is a relationship (LeclairVisonneau et al, 2010)
What is a dream?
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Sleep mentation
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Mental and emotional processes that occur during
sleep, including thoughts, imagery, and problemsolving.
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Dream Properties
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Mental Imagery
Temporal progression of events
Narrative coherence
Methods of studying dreams
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All measures are indirect
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Free recall
EEG
Disruption to sleep patterns i.e. study the effects of antipsychotic drugs that disrupt NREM and measure the
effects on cognitive functioning
Sources of data
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Literature – look to stories of reported dreams
Survey
Laboratory experiment in Sleep Laboratories
Patient reports of dreams/disruption to dreaming
Methodology: Dream surveys
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Dream surveys
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Hall & Van de Castle (1966)
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Dreams (5 dreams per person, yielding two samples of
500 dreams each) from 100 men and 100 women
(college students) were recorded.
The results from that study make up "The Norms"
which are used to taxonomize the content of dreams to
date.
Hall & Van de Castle (1966) Content Analysis
Methodology: Patient studies
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Calvin Hall (1966)
conduced a systematic
study of dream reports of
schizophrenic patients. In
general there were
differences in the content
of the dreams when
compared to non-clinical
populations.
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Fewer people in the
dreams of schizophrenics,
and lack of friendliness
and ambition (striving for
success, avoiding failure)
Methodology: Patient studies
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Many problems with free recall studies
conducted in patient and non-patient studies
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Highly selected circumstances (i.e. may not recall
accurately the dream content)
Recall rarely taken just after the dream has occurred,
usually the reports are provided days later.
Recall may not be free recall, some times prompts are
provided which my distort the reports
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(particularly in patient studies)
General Characteristics of REM Dreams I
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Visual imagery
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All dreams reported include visual imagery
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Most were reported to be in colour
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Congenitally blind (from birth or early childhood
blindness) do have dreams with visual imagery
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– at least recent studies suggest that they are
able to draw and describe the content of their
dreams which reveal details comparable to
sighted participants (Bertolo et al, 2003)
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Most dreams include some form of verbal details
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Lucid dreams often occur during REM – but can
also occur during NREM [what does this imply
about the mind-body problem?]
General Characteristics of REM Dreams II
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Patient studies
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Several studies report that depressed individuals recall fewer or
less detailed dreams than healthy controls (e.g., Barrett &
Loeffler, 1992)
In bipolar disorder a shift to depression is also associated with a
decrease in overall number of dreams reported (e.g.,
Beauchemin & Hays, 1995)
During depressed states the content of dreams reflects mood –
with increased negative content as compared to non-depressed
participants, and during manic states the content of dreams is of
bizarre and improbable themes (Barrett & Loeffler, 1992)
These studies suggest that dreams may be
mood dependent
General Characteristics of REM Dreams III
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Memory research suggest:
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dream sources as well as content, appear similar in REM and NREM
mentation (Cavallero, Foulkes & Hollifield, 1990)
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the same cognitive systems produce mental activity irrespective of REM sleep
stage, (first proposed by Foulkes & Schmidt, 1983)
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daydreaming and sleep onset dreaming are similar for content of
imagery/stories. Cognitive processes involved in the creation of original
narrative sequences are similar in sleep and waking. Cicogna, Cavallero &
Bosinelli (1991)
Ultimately, since stage REM is neither necessary nor sufficient for dreaming,
one must exercise caution in interpreting studies where the two are assumed to
be synonymous. (Palagini & Rosenlicht, 2011)
General Characteristics of REM Dreams IV
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Dream Content
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Most dreams do not have bizarre content (1
in 8 report bizarre fantastical dreams)
Most dreams are credible
Emotionality is not common in dreams
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Dreams with emotional content were usually
unpleasant emotions
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Are bad dreams the same as nightmares?
Disturbing dreams (DDs) I
Epideminological (public health research) studies show that
85% of adults report experiencing 1 nightmare within a
year, and 2-6% report weekly experiences of nightmares.
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Propose that Bad dreams and nightmares are generated by the same
processes, 
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People differ in their effectiveness in regulating negative affect – affective
load
E.g. DDs are commonly associated with Post traumatic stress
disorder, exposures to trauma (Mellman, et al, 1995; Woodward et
al, 2000)
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Following a major earthquake in the San Fran area 1989,
nightmare reports were twice as high after the experience
(Wood et al, 1992)
Disturbing dreams (DDs) II
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Levin & Nielsen (2009) claim that the function of dreaming is fearextinction – and that DDs indicate a failure to regulate emotions
properly.
Dreaming is a multi-level process
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At a neural level – dreaming reflects a cohesive and interconnected
network of limbic and forebrain structures underlying emotional
expression and representation
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At a cognitive level – dream production serves to transform fear
memories generated over the days/weeks/months into dreams and
nightmare imagery
DDs
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DDs occur because of daily emotional pressures that place a high
load on emotional regulation
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DDs occur because of disposition to experience highly negative
emotional reactivity to events.
Theories of dreaming
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Historical theories
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Psychodynamic theory (Freud)
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1900 The interpretation of dreams
Physiological theory (Hobson & McCarley)
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Ancient Greek, Egyptian theories, Medieval Theories
1977 Activation-synthesis theory
Cognitive theory (Foulkes)
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1985 Dreamining: A cognitive psychological analysis
Ancient Greek & Egyptian theories
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The close relationship between sleep, dreaming and emotional
experience is seen widely in Greek mythology
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According to their theology, Oneiros, the god of dreams, helped Hypnos, the
god of sleep, to reduce human suffering through sleep and dreams. The
content of dreams played a significant role in explaining and rationalizing
external events, not just as prophecies (Plato).
Egyptians believed that dreams were divine in origin, that is, they
were generated by the gods, and were prophetic. They were a way
of communicating to humans their needs.
Medieval theories
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The start of scientific study of dreams
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Girolamo Cardano (1501–76) during the renaissance conducted dream
interpretations – connecting dreams with emotion, and generated one of
the first taxonomies of dreams (four types – corresponding to the four
Hippocratic humors – blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm)
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Cardano believed that each of the humors would correspond to a different
dream through “vapours,” which then would create the dream. For
example, people with black bile usually dreamt of “…. darkness,
earthquakes, lightning and thunder, jails, mourning…”
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Importantly the link is made between physiological and mental processes
– and that a functional relationship between is established.
Freud’s proposals I
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Freud was not only a psychiatrist, he was a historian and strongly
influenced by the history of idea – particularly ancient mythology
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“Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious”
 A dream is the expression of the goals of biological drives
 The drive activates the brain and the interaction of drive and
psychological controls creates the dream
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What does this imply in terms of dualism?
Are mental substances influencing physical substances?
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Freud’s proposals II
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According to Freud’s point of view, dream activity reflects man’s emotive
side.
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Day residues consists of events of the day that become part of the dream (manifest content –
is the explicit story of the dream, the latent content is the dream process that converts the
underlying themes into symbolism)
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Dreams were forms of “wish-fulfillment” – attempts by the unconscious to
resolve a conflict of some sort, whether recent or from the recesses of the past.
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He hypothesized a framework of the mind/brain that took neurobiological
functions into account and connected them to psychological functions
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Through Freud, the study of dream phenomena revived the ancient practice of
dream interpretation and established its place in the forefront of human
psychological study.
Contemporaries Challenges’ to Freud’s view
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Maury (1861) studied over 3000 different dreams and
proposed that external, rather than internal (Freud)
stimuli were the catalyst of all dreams
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Goblot (1886) also claimed that “we dream while we are
awakening,” and that the dreams we report on
awakening may be developed during the waking
process.
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They questioned whether dreams were truly
recollections of mental processes occurring during
sleep, or were manufactured during the awakening
process. (this is an early version of Levin & Nielsen
(2009) theory.
Physiological Theory
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Activation-synthesis theory
Dreaming is fundamentally physiological
and not psychologically driven but the brain
is periodically activated, while sensory
input and motor output are blocked
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Activation of reticular formation
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Reticular activating system in the cerebral cortex
regulates sleep-wake transitions (mentation) and
arousal
Biological rhythm of sleep-wake cycles
produces activity in reticular formation, which
activates various brain centres
Synthesis by cortex activity
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Primary sources of dreams are stimuli generated
within the brain
Activation of reticular formation
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Activations of cortex, inhibitions of motor neurons,
REM, Vestibular activation, autonomic activation
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Synthesis
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Flying experiences – vestibular activation produces
disoriented spatial sense – which is rationalized as flying
Chase dreams – motor cortex activation generates
commands to legs, but inhibition of motor neurons means
that there is no kinesthetic feedback
Visual imagery – activation of the visual cortex
Interpretation of dreams from Physiological
theory
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Goal is to relate dream content to activation of different
parts of the brain
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Methods used to record physiological behaviors are correlated to verbal
reports of dreams – and their content
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This theory is limited and fails to account for the high level of
coherence in the narrative of dreams as well as the association between
day time emotional experiences and dream content independent of the
activation of certain brain regions.
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Also, built on studies assuming an association between REM and
dreaming, which many later studies since have shown is not a causal
association, but correlational
Cognitive Theory I
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Foulke (1985) proposed Dreams are a form of thinking So we should examine the representational formation of
dreams (since revised by Cicogna & Bosinelli, 2001)
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The dream process is triggered by a widespread
activation of the mnemonic contents stored in the
memory systems.
Three main cognitive processes involved in the
generation of dreams:
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1. mnemonic activation,
2. planning,
3. re-organization of representations gained during waking life
Cognitive Theory I
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Process 1: The mnemonic activation is planned by a process that selects
which memories should be processed and how.
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Process 2: The planner selects the activated material and organizes it
into a dreamlike narrative complete with meaning, thus elaborating a
sort of first draft of the dream.
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Process 3: These early levels of dream generation are unconscious;
what people experience as a dream, however, is the result of a
conscious elaboration that phenomenally represents the experience that
can be partly remembered upon waking.
Crucially, this theory is the first to propose an account of the generation
of mental activity during sleep independent of the underlying
physiological condition.
Does this seem legitimate?
Implications of Dream research
Is the content of dreams significant? Do they
reveal something meaningful, or is the content
of dreams the product of random neurological
processes?
Do dreams tell us how our consciousness is
structured?