Dreams and the daydream retrieval hypothesis

Dreams and the daydream retrieval hypothesis BackgroundDreams and daydreams are as beguiling as they are intangible (Barrett, 2018).Both share many features, from neurobiology to the sensed experience.Nevertheless, the specific narrative relationship between both, if any, remains uncertain.Theories of dream origins are many: from the psychodynamic royal road, (Freud, 1913) to biological theories, including Hebbian based memory consolidation (Voss & Klimke, 2017), and a unified quantum brain theory that extends to waking and dreaming alike (Globus, 2017).Both the ephemeral nature of dreams* and an inability to simultaneously study their content and biology render them difficult to research from a conventional biomedical perspective.This leaves agreement on the fundamental properties of dreams as ambiguous, and even the state of consciousness enjoyed during sleep is contested (Freud, 2013).What is known is that the qualia and neurophysiological signature of dreams and daydreaming share many features (Domhoff, 2011).We propose further, from a subjective experientialist position, that dream content is specifically derived from daydreams or mindful wandering (subserved by the default mode network [DMN]).If substantiated, this concept offers a new insight into the origin of dreams.*White dreams, where dreams are experienced but not remembered, account for onethird of dream reports (Fazekas, 2018) Current state of knowledge of daydreamsDaydreaming is a state of stimulus independent mind-wandering that may almost unknowingly occupy much of waking life (Baird et al., 2011, Domhoff, 2011).Humans tend to daydream, or mind wander 30-50% of the time while awake (Domhoff, 2011).Daydreaming achieves deep processing during off-task thinking with the tangible benefits of creativity conferred, such as mental time travel (Finnbogadottir 2013).Stimulus independent and undirected mind wandering may still be associated with enabling imagination and creativity in the subject (Klinger and Cox, 1987;Beaty et al., 2018;Klinger 1990, Klinger 2009, Kuzendorf et al., 1997).Daydreaming often involves mental simulation of self into a different place, time or realm (Singer, 1966; Markman, 2009).Daydreaming is a notable preoccupation of writers and poets and is understandably associated with the creative type (Singer & McCraven, 1961).Fantasy, role-play and even metaphor production are among some of the experiences and explorations of the mind during this phase (Beaty et al., 2017).Constructive daydreaming has even been linked with positive life attributes (Blouin-Hudon, 2016).Daydreaming also achieves 'perceptual decoupling to escape the constraints of the moment' and attain internal stream maintenance (Antrobus 1964, Smallwood, 2011).Earlier theories proposed an adaptive role of daydreams to an individual's well-being (Singer, 1966) and suggest a conformity to the psychodynamic framework of wish-fulfillment (Singer & McCraven, 1961;Singer, 1998).Original psychology studies have now been complemented with neurobiological correlates, courtesy of functional MRI scanning and electrophysiology, which have identified the default mode network as a key hub involved in daydreaming.Mind wandering has been shown to be strongly linked with default mode network activity, midline cerebral hubs, such as the angular gyrus, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior cingulate gyrus (Antrobus, 2016).The dynamic functional connectivity of the DMN is proportionate with an individual's self

Cognitive psychology · Psychoanalysis · Mind wandering and attention · Psychology · Sleep and related disorders · Sleep and Wakefulness Research

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  Eamonn Eeles, Donna Pinsker et al.•Dreaming•2020

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  Ernest Hartmann•Dreaming•2000

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  Eamonn Eeles, Donna Pinsker et al.•Dreaming•2020

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  Robert Kunzendorf, Ernest Hartmann et al.•Dreaming•1997

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