Dreams
and Nightmares : The New Theory on the Origin and Meaning of Dreams
by Ernest Hartmann
OUTLINE FOR A THEORY ON
THE NATURE AND FUNCTIONS OF DREAMING
Ernest Hartmann, M.D.
Correspondence to:
Ernest Hartmann, M. D.
Tufts University School of Medicine
27 Clark Street
Newton, MA 02159
Abstract:
Based on dreams after trauma and other recent research a view of the
nature of dreaming is developed along the following lines. Dreaming makes
connections more broadly than waking in the nets of the mind. Dreaming
avoids the "central" rapid input-to-output portions of the net and the
feed-forward mode of functioning; it makes connections in the further
out regions (further from input/output) and in an auto-associative mode.
Dreaming produces more generic and less specific imagery. Dreaming
cross-connects. The connections are not made in a random fashion; they
are
guided by the emotion of the dreamer. Dreaming contextualizes a dominant
emotion or emotional concern. This is demonstrated most clearly in
dreams after trauma as the trauma resolves but can likewise be seen
in dreams after stress, in pregnancy, and in other situations where the
dominant emotional concern is known. The form that these connections
and contextualizations take is explanatory metaphor. The dream, or the
striking dream image, explains metaphorically the emotional state of
the dreamer. This entire process is probably functional. The dream functions
to spread out excitation or reduce "computational energy" and does
this by cross-connecting and "weaving-in". This has an immediate function
in
"calming a storm" or reducing a disturbance, and a longer term function
relating to memory -- not so much consolidating memory but rather
cross-connecting, weaving in something new, increasing the connections.
From what I see at Hertman's web site (http://www.asdreams.org/outline.htm)
I would say that I like his attempt to place dreaming in the context of
brain operations. Current theories on consciousness suggest that it involves
some mechanism for supporting organized persistence in cortical neuron
activity patterns for >200 mseconds and extending throughout large regions
of the cerebral cortex. You might say that the more neurons there that
retain a stable activity pattern and the broader their distribution throughout
the cortex, the more conscious you become of the "topic" that all those
neurons are concerned with. When we sleep, this mechanism of consciousness
is disabled and the patterns of cortical activity are usually much less
robust and more fragmented. Based on my experience gained from keeping
track of my dreams for about a year (this was back when I was a kid) I
believe that most dreaming concerns the same things that we were concerned
with the previous day. This makes sense because we know that memory consolidation
happens while we sleep....when we sleep our neural nets are firming up
the connectivity patterns "learned" the day before. However, when the content
of a dream is able to produce arousal by way of the limbic and emotional
systems, the brain can creep towards consciousness. I think this is normal
during REM sleep when the activity pattern of the brain approached that
of normal waking consciousness. After a period of normal REM sleep you
drop back down into deep sleep and "forget about" what you were conscious
of during the dream. The dream does not get saved in long-term memory.
However, if you are under stress during the day, your dreams will also
be stressful and have a better chance of activating powerful unpleasant
emotions which might cause you to wake up. If this happens you can start
thinking "rationally" about the dream and put elements of it into long-term
memory. You have recorded a nightmare. In some sense, this can be a positive
feedback process. The more you think about nightmares during the day and
the unpleasant and stressful situations which provoke them, the more likely
you are to have another nightmare the next night. Also, just as some people
need more sleep than others, some people are probably better able to remember
their dreams. In my own personal experience, if you try to do so, you can
become very good at remembering dreams. Most of us do not bother doing
so because they are usually disjoint and boring fragments of out daily
lives. (sent to Parr 8/10/99)