physiological function dream theory

Many studies performed during the eighteenth century confirmed such statement (4,7). In cats and monkeys eye movements are accompanied by monophasic spiky potentials in the occipital cortex, in the lateral geniculate body and in the pontine tegmentum (66-69). Short periods of desynchronization breaking through theta waves may, therefore, be taken as a manifestation of a very high degree of attention, during attentive wakefulness or during dreaming. ), Ermdung, Schlaf und Traum, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Sttutgart 1971:173-242. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. The substrate, physiological mechanism, and function of dreaming have been explained by many scientists from the neurological, psychiatric, psychological, and philosophical perspective. Shiromani PJ, Malik M, Winston S, McCarley RW. In decerebrate cats eye movements do occur and are integrated below the midbrain (67,95). In cats, Guazzi, Baccelli & Zanchetti (1966) demonstrated that due to such a cardiovascular hypoactivity the sensory afferents from glomus carotideus and glomus aorticus, that carry information from chemoreceptors sensitive to a decrease in oxygen blood concentration, attain an overwhelming relevance, inasmuch as following the transection of such afferents blood pressure goes continuously down during desynchronized sleep, leading to death (63). Exptl Neurol 1963;8:93-111. J Neurosci 1995;15:3500-8. In 1867, Michelson, a physiologist who was a relative to Kohlschtter, replicated his study and obtained the curve shown in figure 1 (4,8). 67. J Cerebr Blood Flow Metab 1991;11:502-7. 16. The dream between neuroscience and psychoanalysis. "Dreams are not ghosts (phantasmata), since they are closely related to the events of the previous day". Movements of the eyes when the lids are closed. Shiromani PJ, Winston S, McCarley RW. Gadea-Ciria M. Plasticity of ponto-geniculo-occipital waves during paradoxical sleep after frontal lobe lesions in the cat. Brainstem control of the events of REM sleep. Studi Psicologici e Clinici di un Alienista. Physiol Behav 1972;8:363-71. Electroencephal Clin Neurophysiol 1955:673-690. In the somesthetic system inhibition occurs at the very first central neurons in the sensory pathway (both spinal and in the brain stem) and appears as a reduction of evoked potentials in the medial lemniscus when peripheral afferents are electrically stimulated (41). The pressure also exhibits a series of bumps, that may be related to dreaming activity (figure 6) (62). Grimm R, Tischmeyer W. Complex patterns of immediate gene induction in rat brain following brightness discrimination training and pseudotraining. (eds.) Vanni-Mercier and co-workers (1994) believe, however, that in cats eye movements during desynchronized sleep are in general asymmetric, that is, the eyes tend to move preferentially to one side of the visual field, what, according to these authors, disprove the hypothesis of the scanning character of eye movements during dreams (29). Vertes RP. Not only theta waves do occur in the cerebellar cortex during desynchronized sleep but also spindles and delta waves are found in this organ in synchronized sleep, just as in neocortical areas. In fact, when the voltage of each theta wave in one site is compared with the voltage in another site it is possible to assess the degree of coincidence or phase shift between the two sites. Calkins thus discovered that most dreams occur during the second half of the night and that around 89% of them are closely related to the events occurring the day before, confirming Aristotle. J Abnorm Psychol 1982;91:433-6. In non-human animals the report regarding dreams is obviously impossible but, fortunately, a dream can be detected in both humans and other species by analyzing its motor, vegetative and electrophysiological manifestations, as will be described below. With developments in understanding of the neurophysiology of REM sleep, new theories of dreaming were proposed. Silent functional magnetic resonance imaging demonstrates focal activation in rapid eye movement sleep. Later research argues that dreams are physiological, beginning with random electrical impulses deep within the brain stem. Sleep 1973;2:36-42. eCollection 2020. Considering dreams as hallucinations, Hernndez-Pen (1966) theorized that they are possible because the system responsible for wakefulness is inactivated during sleep, releasing memory tracings which are brought to consciousness. (eds.) The meaning of dreams is therefore still an unsolved problem. Two major theories have been proposed regarding the neural circuits involved in dreaming. The discovery of the close association between rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and dreaming and development of sleep laboratory techniques ushered in a new era in the study of dreams. Several authors also quantified the kinds of dreams as related to their sensory content. Dreams are still taken by a majority of the human kind as premonitory, ascribing them the function of telling us that something important will happen. 47. From the spinal cord Marini (1997) recorded slow (delta) regularly oscillating waves during desynchronized sleep (81), which may be related to activation of spinal neurons during dreaming. WebPsychoanalytic theory of dream: Advanced by Freud, the psychoanalytic theory of dream stands as the most valid and fundamental among all the theories of dream. & Ajmone-Marsan, C. The motor components of dreams are expressed as clearly different patterns, according to the dream content. Brain Res 1990;517:224-8. 81. 55. The site is secure. 122. 2009 Nov;10(11):803-13. doi: 10.1038/nrn2716. 26. Such movements may take the sleeper to fall off the bed. Although it may happen in any sleep phase, it prevails during the desynchronized phase. In rats only the frontal cortex presents desynchronization whereas in all the remaining cortex, and in many subcortical sites, the electro-oscillograms oscillate as theta waves. Physiol., Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1972:166-307. Pontine cholinergic neurons show fos-like immunoreactivity associated with cholinergically induced REM sleep. Sleep and dreaming: induction and mediation of REM sleep by cholinergic mechanisms. The posterior areas affected in this syndrome are the visual areas V3, V3a and V4 (97). A related point of view was put forward by Krueger & Obal (1993), who proposed that, on the basis of use-dependent synaptic stabilization, the neuronal assembly not activated during wakefulness will be activated during sleep, to prevent it from atrophy (117). Brain Res 1996;770:192-201. Such a finding is incompatible with the current function attributed to the cerebellum, i.e., only correction of movements. In cats, tympanic muscles sometimes contract during desynchronized sleep (38), as shown in Figure 4. Arch Gen Psychiat 1966;14:238-48. Such a recovery means that other mechanisms are put into action that are able to generate not only wakefulness but desynchronized sleep as well. doi: 10.1093/nc/nix009. At 36C, for instance, desynchronized sleep spans to about 10% of time, at 23C it occupies nearly 80% of the time, what has not been explained so far. Chase MH, Morales FR. The cycle of sleep in the rat (preliminary report). Desynchronized sleep in early life may be an indicator for the degree of brain maturation and promoter of further brain maturation. Curr Opin Neurobiol 1992;2:759-63. Progr Neurobiol 1984;22:241-88. We spend a lot of time sleeping. Sleep Res 1973;4:65. Decety J, Jeannerod M, Durozard DR, Baveal J. Fos-like immunoreactivity was also found in association with cholinergically induced REM sleep (107,108). Xerxes, in fact, had discovered an important aspect of dreams but his oracle discarded such an explanation, in favor of the mystic one. The result of such conscious identification is a dream. activation-synthesis. 80. As commented upon concerning visual movements, the span of rostrum movements does probably reflect the distance of the olfactory source. J Ment Nerv Dis 1966;141:623-50. 66. Hobson, Pace-Schott & Stickgold (2000) do not take into consideration that a single object or a brief key fact or image occurring in the day preceding a given dream may be enough to trigger an entire dreamed "story" related to it (120). Eye movements, muscle atonia, PGO potentials and arterial hypotension are still present after the transection. Neurosci Conscious. During the second century of the present era, Galen, a Greek physician who practiced Medicine in Rome and was a great anatomist and clinician, knew that temperature, heart rate and respiration exhibited cyclic changes at night, which he attributed to dreaming (3). If, as an advantage, in humans such manifestations of dreams can be related to their reported content, in non-human animals it is possible to record with a high degree of accuracy not only the motor and the vegetative manifestations of dremaing but the electro-oscillograms of many central structures as well. Oka T, Iwakiri H, Mori S. Pontine-induced generalized suppression of postural muscle tone in a reflexively standing acute decerebrate cat. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! Fortunately, this author did not suggest that dreaming, with all its movements, is intended to produce heat from the fake muscular contractions that occur as an expression of dreams. 13 Loomis AL, Harvey DN, Hobart GA. Distribution of disturbance patterns in the human electroencephalogram, with special reference to sleep. While Freud makes many intuitive 114. Functional neuroanatomy of human rapid-eye-movement sleep and dreaming. In 1936, Klaue (12) described periods of sleep in cats characterized by high frequency electrocorticograms that he considered as a sign of deep sleep and in 1950 Passouant described a phase of desynchronization (a term coined by Adrian to label an increase in frequency with a decrease in voltage) of the EEG potentials in humans. Editor-translator: Gallop, D., Aris & Phillips Ltd., Warminster, England 1991. The gamma-alpha loop has been shown to play no role in producing the movements that characterize dreaming. Ponto-geniculo-occipital (PGO) burst neurons: correlative evidence for neuronal generators of PGO waves. Brain warning function for REM-sleep. There are other definitions of the word dream, too. Timo-Iaria C, yamashita R, Hoshino K, Sousa-Melo A. Aristotle. Behav Brain Sci 2000;23:1008-9. 128. Acta Med Iug 1978;32:45-50. This may well reflect auditory dreams, as has been found in humans (36,37). Cravo SLD, Lopes OU, Fraga CAB, Timo-Iaria C. Cardiovascular adjustments to noxious stimulation in decerebrate cats. 52. The narrower is the angle of rotation, the lower is the recorded potential, which happens when attention is being directed to a very small part of the object or when the object is very near. During oniric activity, however, phasic increases in heart rate, blood pressure and ventilation do occur that are closely related to the dream that is going on. PMC There are two kinds of vegetative components: 1. The eye movements that occur during desynchronized sleep are equivalent to limb and face twitches occurring during the same phase of sleep and seem to have the same functional meaning. Some peculiarities of the dreams of patients with vestibular diseases. In the sixties, Evarts (1964) had also recorded from monkeys high frequency bursts of impulses in the pyramidal tract axons, which may be related to activation of muscles intervening in oniric behaviors expressed as movements (82). Steriade M, McCarley RW. Science 1953;118:273-4. Frequency clearly increases and becomes regular, as compared with the trend before oniric activity. 42. They include facilitation of memory storage, (1962) clearly demonstrated that in the cat blood diastolic pressure falls deeply to around 60 mmHg, beginning as soon as the electrocorticogram starts to desynchronize. The other is that dreams are caused by forebrain activation by dopamine. With developments in understanding of the neurophysiology of REM sleep, new Salivary, gastric, enteric, pancreatic and billiary secretion and contraction of the smooth muscle of the gastrointestinal viscera are specific vegetative components of feeding behavior, as well as secretion of luteotropic hormone, increase in cavernous blood pressure and vaginal blood flow and several other endocrine adjustments are part and characteristic of sexual behavior. Brain 1997;120:1173-97. Jung R, Kornmller AE. Sleep patterns during rearing under different environmental conditions in juveline rats. The heart rate and breathing quickens, and blood pressure rises. On the other hand, cells that were silent during the behavioral task did not show the increase in frequency. However, we all know that many dreams are not emotional at all. Their data do not depart from modern studies of the same kind. In both instances sleep evolved according to the phases of synchronized and then of desynchronized sleep, during which eye movements always occurred. Electroencephal Clin Neurophysiol 1987;66:383-90. An important contemporary of these authors, Charles Darwin, in his landmarking book Emotions in Man and Animals, published in 1872 and reedited several times in the twentieth century (6), states that "at least birds and mammals do dream", a concept that still remains unchallenged, despite which most researchers that carry out studies on sleep still hold that dreaming is specifically human. During normal walking the tibialis anterior and the gastrocnemius muscles are mobilized in opposition but when they contract as part of a dream their contraction may be in opposition (in some periods), what happens in normal deambulatory movements, or simultaneous (in subsequent or preceding periods), which does not occur in normal deambulation. WebPhysiological function Theory regular brain stimulation from REM sleep may help develop and preserve neural pathways. Shiromani PJ, Lai yy, Siegel JM. Physiological-functioning theor y was supported in a 2009 paper written by J. Allan Revonsuo A. Despite the fact that many studies have found that mental activity during wakefulness differs from that during dreaming, the mechanisms involved in both may differ as to the degree of control over the release and combination of memorized information in wakefulness and in desynchronized sleep. Time course of foslike immunoreactivity associated with cholinergically induced REM sleep. On Sleep and Dreams. During REM sleep, several physiological changes also take place. 104. Since evoking visual reminiscences during wakefulness and the building up of dreams with visual information are dependent on the visual cortex, both facts can be correlated. Karger, Basel, 1997:65-76. 41. Jouvet M. Le sommeil paradoxal est-il responsable d'une programmation gntique du cerveau? Considering that desynchronization is predominant all over the cortex in humans and in the frontal cortex of both cats and rats, we consider it to be a phylogenetically more recent functional acquisition. 64. Electrophysiological manifestations of wakefulness and desynchronized sleep in the rat. Much effort was devoted to searching for parallels between physiological aspects of REM sleep and characteristics of associated dreams, with modest results. Regional cerebral glucose metabolic rate in human sleep assessed by positron emission tomography. The very essence of dreams is, certainly, memorized information. Several physiologists, psychologists and psychatrists have theorized about that but all the explanations seem to be devoid of a logical or an experimentally demonstrable reason. Magoun HW, Rhines R. An inhibitory mechanism in the bulbar reticular formation. Above the transection, synchronized and desynchronized sleep keep occurring but without eye movements. Villablanca J. Behavioral and polygraphic study of the "sleep" and "wakefulness" in chronic decerebrate cats. 85. It is not known why and how the potent inhibition of motoneurons is bypassed by the descending impulses that cause such movements but this is, possibly, a key phenomenon for the understanding of the mechanisms and the function of dreams. 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Wakefulness '' in chronic decerebrate cats eye movements do occur and are below... In producing the movements that characterize dreaming of brain maturation it to take of! Le sommeil paradoxal est-il responsable d'une programmation gntique du cerveau heart rate and breathing quickens, blood... After the transection any sleep phase, it prevails during the eighteenth century confirmed such (!, as compared with the current function attributed to the phases of synchronized and desynchronized sleep in the bulbar formation! Evolved according to the dream content dreams is, certainly, memorized.... Sttutgart physiological function dream theory und Traum, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Sttutgart 1971:173-242 function attributed to the events of the neurophysiology REM. The complete set of features therefore still an unsolved problem physiological aspects of REM sleep may help develop and neural. Expressed as clearly different patterns, according to the cerebellum, i.e., only of... 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