Sleep & Dreams

Who is Medard Boss?

A Swiss psychiatrist who trained and worked with Jung

Who is Robert Stickgold?

A colleague of Hobson who updated and elaborated upon aspects of the activation-synthesis theory

What are neural nets?

A group of synaptic connections between many neurons active at any given time

What do dreams reflect, according to Hall?

A person's worldview, their attitudes toward their impulses (not generated by our impulses), their conflicts and problems (most of the info in dreams is this)

Describe Aristotle's beliefs about sleep

A slight cooling of temperature causes sleep because of a resulting redistribution of warm blood into the centre of the body Heat causes fumes from eaten food to leave the veins and go to the head; there the fumes cool and sink to lower parts of the body, which draws heat away from the body, making one sleepy

Describe the Psychotheoretical-Formula method of dream interpretation!!!!

A trained analyst interprets themes and images of the dream for the dreamer, using a specific psychological theory to match particular components with interpretations

Who is Calvin Hall?

A university professor of psychology prior to becoming the Director of the Dream Research Institute in Cali

What is the censor?!!!!

According to Freud, this mechanism prevents conscious awareness of unconscious forces (which may be too disturbing to think about openly when awake)

What does AIM stand for?!!!!

Activation level of the brain, relative source of input (internal vs external) to the activated areas, and the information processing mode that is related to the levels of neurotransmitters at the moment

Which animals sleep?!!!

All mammals, birds, and apparently reptiles; it may also occur in some or all amphibians, fish, and invertebrates

Who is Alfred Adler?

An Austrian psychiatrist who was a member of Freud's inner circle until he broke away with his own ideas

What is the AIM model!!!!

An extension of the activation-synthesis model, created by Hobson

How did the ancient Greeks view sleep?

As caused by and causing distributions of heat in the body.

What is day residue?

Aspects of our recent experiences that precipitate some of the images in our dreams. These images combine with memories to become the dream during the process of secondary revision

What did Solms base his research on?

Based on studies of his/others' brain damaged patients

Why does Solms think dreams occur?

Because of a functional reorganization of the higher portions of the brain

Why can't dreams solve our problems, according to Adler?

Because they are "self protective fantasies" created to defend the dreamer's impression of superiority and self-worth. Dreams are failed adaptations to waking reality and give no real help, but interpretation of them can help see these failures that are in need of waking work.

What influences the nature/amount of sleep in mammals?!!!!

Body size, age, what they eat, how safe their sleeping site is, and the environment they inhabit

Describe personal-mnemic dreams!!!!

Contain everyday matters from the dreamer's waking life. They occur frequently.

Explain the Activation-Synthesis model

Dreaming is the result of the activation of several forebrain systems while others are deactivated. The activated/activating structures interact and the resulting info is synthesized into a unified perceptual whole.

What do we get from dreams, according to Adler?

Dreams anticipate or prepare for the future, but a mood is carried from the dream to waking life, not a specific solution for interpersonal problems

What did Hall believe about the personal nature of dreams?

Dreams are a letter to oneself about things that are important to the dreamer. People don't dream of impersonal things like politics, sports, work, or even current world events.

What was Hall's belief about the nature of dreams

Dreams are continuous with the person's waking personality and thoughts. Their images represent the ideas or conceptions of the dreamer that are typically found below the level of consciousness. Although external stimuli sometimes generate dream content, they are neither responsible for generation for the dream nor are they typically accurately portrayed.

How was Jung's overall view of dreams different from Freud's?

Dreams are more positive to him; our partners, not our opposers

What are spotlight, or bareface dreams (Hall)?

Dreams that require little interpretation because their meanings are obvious

How is the censor implicated in dreaming?!!!!

During sleep, the mind disguises unconscious forces into a disguised version (the manifest content) as a dream in order to get past this mechanism, allowing wish fulfilment. The censor also causes poor retention of dreams

How do dreams reveal what dreamers think of themselves, according to Hall?

Each aspect of the dreamer's personality is often symbolized by a different character in a dream. May have more than one conception of themselves and other, and some may be contradictory. These may manifest in one dream, or some in one and others in another.

What can disturb neural net networks?

Emotions focus the content of the dream and the looseness of the nets causes the disturbance to be metaphorically pictured rather than literally --> leads to dreams having symbols of emotions

Describe archetypal-spiritual dreams!!!!

Encounters with ethereal or supernatural forces that are especially vivid and powerful. Often accompanied by very strong sensations. Rare and unlikely to occur in the sleep lab

Name the two cognitive dream theorists in the textbook!!!!

Foulkes and Hunt

Explain how none of the theories of dreams include all types of dreaming

Freud, Foulkes, and Hobson focus on dreams that are verbal propositions that are transformed into images, but Jung focuses on dreams that start as visual-spatial images that are transformed into linguistic forms

What is Hartmann's opinion on dream interpretation?!!!!

He believes it is unreasonable to think that any dream can be completely and fully interpreted (dreams are a unique creation that can't be put into words/pictures without losing content)

What was Boss's view of dreams?

He rejected the notion of the unconscious and the notion that there are special messages delivered through dreams. He aligned with a philosophy called existential phenomenalism.

How did Jung view dream interpretation differently than Freud?

His methods centred on helping a normal person find its meaning. He saw it as a joint process between the dreamer and the therapist

Who invented the Activation-Synthesis model of dreaming?

Hobson and McCarley

What is memory consolidation?!!!!

In order to create a memory, something is changed in the brain such as a functional reorganization of the structures that are responsible for the storage of the memory. New memories undergo a series of changes over hours, days, etc. During this time, meaning is extracted and insights are realized. They are integrated with other memories and made more permanent or weakened/eliminated if they are less essential. Sleep plays an important role in this process.

What is existential phenomenalism?

It asserts that we exist solely in relationship to people and things. This "being-in-the-world" occurs in the world of our dreams as well as in our waking world, so we must treat our dreams as an experience rather than as containing symbols and metaphors. Dreams mirror our present and open future potentials and possibilities.

What did Stickgold theorize about the bizarreness of dreams?!!!!

It has been found to be not entirely random. Rather, there are rules that restrain the transformation of objects into other objects and determine the degree of plot continuity.

What does heating the basal forebrain area do?!!!!

It increases N3: may be the location of the body's thermostat that regulates average daily body temperature

Describe the effects of sleep deprivation in animals!!!!

It leads to sleep rebound. And harmful side effects include microsleeps and lapses into wakefulness, and deterioration of performance.

How did views of sleep change after oxygen was discovered?

It yields "ether of life" that the blood transports to the brain for storage. From the brain, it is distributed into nerves and muscles to produce motion, but it is used up during wakefulness and needs to be replenished by sleep. Later, sleep was seen as the result of the lack of this substance.

Describe differences between Jung and Freud's views on wish-fulfilment

Jung believed that wish-fulfilling dreams should not be the sole criterion for interpreting a dream. Dreams provide a compensatory function by bringing forth unconscious perspectives to complement the waking points of view, a process he called individuation. Dreams aim at psychological self-healing designed to enhance a balance of emotional well-being.

Describe the rules of dream bizarreness, according to Stickgold!!!!

Living things tend to morph into other living things, not inanimate objects, and vice versa. And things morph into similar things (people to people, rocks to chairs, etc). The memories that are sequentially activated during dreaming tend to be associated, but the memories that are non-sequentially activated are not so associated, resulting in strange plot twists and turns.

How do neural nets create dreams?

Mental events are activation of a certain configuration of these. Parts are more tightly woven than others (tight = grammar, image recognition, or detailed memory recall). When dreaming, the network is more loosely connected (neural activation tends to wander around networks, so dreaming is less linguistic, logical, and goal directed)

What does Solms believe is the driving force of dreaming?

Motivation instigates dreams because the only thing that eliminates dreaming is damage to the motivation areas of the brain

Describe Tononi and Cirelli's views on the benefits of sleep!!!!

N3's function is to reduce the number of synapses in the brain, because when we are awake we produce many new synapses that eventually can cause it to become cluttered. When the number is reduced, savings occur in the amount of energy the brain uses, reducing the amount of space taken up, and allowing more room for new synapses for new learning. The synapses that survive are the most strongly and effectively involved in memory storage and other useful functions.

Describe prophetic dreams!!!!

Omens or other images of the future

What is displacement?

Part of the process of censorship. If an unconscious desire/emotion/thought is too threatening to the dreamer, it is transformed into an insignificant component of the dream.

Why does Solms support Freud's idea of the censor/the source of dreams being the unconscious?

Patients who have prefrontal damage and loss of inhibition report an absence of dreaming

What are the key elements of Adler's beliefs on psychology?

People strive to achieve superiority and avoid inferiority, and the conscious and unconscious do not oppose each other.

What does the "thin boundaries" personality type refer to, according to Hartmann?!!!!

People who have looser, broader networks as their typical mode of functional brain organization

What are the types of dreams according to Hunt?!!!!

Personal-mnemic dreams, medical-somatic dreams, prophetic dreams, archetypal-spiritual dreams, nightmares, and lucid dreams. Each type has its own combination of cognitive processes and perhaps different functions

Describe the pros/cons of description!!!!

Points to possible functions of sleep, but there may be other explanations for observations

Descrine Hildegard von Bingen's beliefs on sleep

Prior to the Fall, the sleep of Adam was a deep contemplation, and food was taken in visually, delighting the spirit. The Fall weakened the body and thus made eating and sleeping necessary to rejuvenate it again.

What is the relevance of the basal forebrain area to sleep?!!!!

Sleep onset and duration are coordinated and organized by it (plus others). Probably not the source of sleep though, just plays a role in organizing it

Describe Pavlov's sleep theory of "cortical inhibition"!!!!

Sleep results from the inhibitory influences located in the cerebral cortex. Later theories shifted the location of these areas to lower parts of the brain and have included active excitatory areas

Describe 17th/18th century views on sleep

Sleep results when the "animal spirits" are drained off from the body by work and activity, resulting in exhaustion. Or, sleep occurs because the brain separated nervous spirits out of the blood during wakefulness. Or, sleep happened when the liquor in the brain got used up or thickened while being awake and thus could not fill the small vessels and nerves that serve the sense organs and muscles.

Describe the Personal-Projection method of dream interpretation!!!!

Someone other than the dreamer projects a mixture of cultural associations, psychotheoretical associations, personal associations, and emotional responses onto the dreamer's dream

Describe the pros/cons of stimulation (experimentation)!!!!

Suggests internal changes to which sleep responds, but can increase or decrease sleep independent of need

Describe core sleep!!!!

-It consists mainly of restorative, homeostatic, and other benefits. -Contains a high proportion of N3, but also some other NREMS stages and a little REMS. -The need for this sleep builds with wakefulness, especially waking brain effort. -It is a "deeper sleep" necessary for normal alertness and cognitive functioning while awake. -starts early in the sleep period then declines

Describe extended sleep!!!!

-It is secondary and more flexible. -Can be extended or shortened in accordance with environmental demands. -More for safety, energy conservation, and efficiency kinds of functions. -Can also be relief from boredom. -Contains a high proportion of REMS. -It is on a circadian schedule but may also be governed by behavioural needs. -May vary with the seasons to act as a time occupier when the environment is less habitable. -increases later in the sleep period

What does Harry Hunt believe about the study of dreaming?

-It needs to take info from a variety of sources, not just from subjects in sleep labs or therapists' patients -data should come from anthropological studies, dream journals, and special dreams people remember -he believes home dreams are most important

Name the 6 dream interpretation methods!!!!

1. Cultural-Formula 2. Psychotheoretical-Formula 3. Associative 4. Emotion-Focusing 5. Personal-Projection 6. Phenomenological

Name the 4 scientific strategies for studying sleep!!!!

1. Description 2. Correlation 3. Stimulation (experimentation) 4. Deprivation

What were Hartmann's three focuses?

1. Functional structure of the brain when dreaming 2. Emotional focus of dreams 3. Aspects of personality related to dreaming

Describe the Cultural-Formula method of dream interpretation!!!!

The dreamer is told what the components of the dream mean. Among the oldest approaches. The idea is that the culture implicitly agrees on the meaning of certain objects and actions

What do dreams focus on according to Adler?

The dreamer's lifestyle, and they relate to the dreamer's everyday existence.

What does Solms believe about symbolism in dreams?

The generation of abstract (symbolic) thoughts are derived from past experiences. The brain doesn't distinguish from reality because that part of the brain is asleep.

Describe Webb's idea of "adaptive non-responding"!!!!

The immobility of sleep attracts less predator attention and reduced responsiveness to the environment. Thus animals adapted sleep as an evolutionarily based instinct during times of potential danger, and it is under circadian control.

What does the interaction of the AIM factors determine?!!!!

The instantaneous state of the mental processes in the brain/mind, whether awake, asleep, dreaming, or in an abnormal mode

Explain explication, Boss's method of interpreting dreams

The key is to focus on the experience. We should strive to get the obvious meaning from the dream. Start by looking at what is in the dream, but also what is not. Then note the relationship of the dreamer to the elements of the dream and how the dreamer responds to them (especially emotionally)

How does Solms describe the sleeping brain?

The primary sensory areas responsive to external stimuli are shut down weakened, which allows internally generated stimuli to occur

What is the role of the therapist in interpreting a dream in Boss's method?

The therapist is unnecessary. They simply provide comments and hints to aid the dreamer in interpreting their own dream.

How does Jung's view of the unconscious differ from Freud's?

The unconscious is more comprehensive. In addition to containing repressed feelings, instincts, and memories, it also contains aspects that are part of every human's unconscious (called the collective unconscious)

What is the latent content?

The undisguised, underlying content of a dream

What does Hunt believe about Foulkes and Freud?

Their theories are incomplete because they focus only on the personal-mnemic dreams

Do drugs that affect sleep also affect memory?!!!!

There are no clinical signs of memory problems in people who have taken drugs for years with the side effect of severely reducing if not eliminating REMS

Are dreams stories or imagery, according to Hunt?

They are both. One or the other can instigate the dream. Personal-mnemic dreams come from grammar-orientated processes, while the rarer, intense dreams are more image oriented

What did Hall believe about symbols in dreams?

They are pictorial metaphors that intend to clarify. They express the dreamer's thoughts better.

Why are dreams important in psychotherapy according to Boss?

They can point to constrictions in the dreamer's personality, disclose potentials for growth, and can be transforming experiences.

Describe people with thin boundaries!!!!

They have a rich fantasy life and have trouble telling reality from fantasy. Daydreamers, more open to experience, difficulty focusing on one thing, thoughts and feelings merge. Artists are typically of this personality type.

Describe the dreams of thin boundary people!!!!

They have more dream recall, and their dreams are more vivid, have more interaction between characters, and are more emotional. More likely to have nightmares.

Describe how Hall developed his theory of dreams

Unlike Freud/Jung, who used patients' dreams as the basis of their theories, Hall derived his ideas from the study of thousands of dreams collected from hundreds of "normal" people. But he found that most of his subjects dreamt the same way as Freud's.

When does dreaming occur, according to the AIM model!!!!

When A is high, I is internal, and M is dominated by acetylcholine

What is secondary revision?!!!!

When thoughts and impulses are logically transformed into a visual format --> aids the transformation from latent to manifest content

drugs

is password

Describe the "bottle" theories of the 20th century

The body is like a bottle that gradually fills up with one substance or another that induce sleep. Sleep rids the body of this poison.

How did Hall find that dreams differed between patients and a non-clinical population?

The details of the content and focus may differ, but the basic underlying processes are the same

What is the manifest content?

The disguised version of the unconscious forces, in the form of a dream

Describe the Emotion-Focusing method of dream interpretation!!!!

The dreamer assumes the role of an image in the dream and acts it out. They may also alternate between two images as they carry out a dialogue, or, in a group setting, others may be asked to assume the role of some of the other images and interact with the image the dreamer assumes. The idea is to have the dreamer get to the feelings associated with the images

Describe the Phenomenological method of dream interpretation!!!!

The dreamer describes precisely what happened in the dream as if it were being re-experienced, which can enlighten the dreamer about new attitudes and feelings

Describe the Associative method of dream interpretation!!!!

The dreamer gives associations (semantic and also emotional) to components in the dream

What did Hall believe about dream interpretation?

The dreamer is the best person to do it. One should not apply a theory to the dream, but read the meaning out of it. One should work with the whole dream, not parts, and it's better to look at a series of dreams.

Name the two components of Horne's theory on sleep!!!!

Sleep has two functional types: core sleep (obligatory sleep) and extended sleep (optional sleep)

Describe passive theories of sleep in the 19th century

Sleep is due to a lack of stimulation. Dr. Elapariede saw sleep as an active instinct like a process that serves to avoid fatigue

Describe medical-somatic dreams!!!!

Reflect the physiology of the dreamer's body, especially illness.

Describe the pros/cons of deprivation!!!!

Reveals what happens without sleep, but the results could be responses to sleep-preventing stimuli themselves rather than affecting sleep directly

What was Paracelsus's sleep advice?

Rise with the sun and retire at sunset; this will eliminate tiredness caused by working and thus refresh the body

How does Solms describe the awake brain?

Sensory stimulation coming primary from external sources activates the sensory areas of the cortex, that in turn activate nearby perceptual/stored memory areas of the cerebral cortex --> activates the limbic areas/motor system

Describe the pros/cons of correlation!!!!

Sleep connecting in this way to something suggests possible function