Read more
G. William Domhoff presents a new neurocognitive theory of dreams in his book
The Emergence of Dreaming. His theory stresses the similarities between dreaming and drifting waking thought, based on laboratory and non-laboratory studies that show as many as 70 to 80 percent of dreams are dramatized enactments of significant waking personal concerns about the past, present, and future. Domhoff discusses a developmental dimension of dreaming based on the unexpected laboratory discovery that young children dream infrequently and with less complexity until ages 9-11-supported by new findings with children who are awake that demonstrate the gradual emergence of cognitive skills necessary for dreaming. Domhoff's theory locates the neural substrate for dreaming in the same brain network now known to be most active during mind-wandering, and explains the transition into dreaming.
Various strands of evidence lead to the conclusion that dreaming does not have any adaptive function, and is best viewed as an accidental by-product of adaptive waking cognitive abilities. However, cross-cultural and historical studies reveal that human inventiveness has made dreams an essential part of healing and religious ceremonies in many societies. Three chapters present detailed critiques of other current theories of dreams. The final chapter suggests how new and better studies of dreaming and its neurocognitive basis can be carried out using recent technological developments in both communications (e.g., smartphone apps) and neuroimaging (e.g., near infrared spectroscopy). As one of the first empirical and scientific treatments on dream research,
The Emergence of Dreaming will be of interest to psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, sleep researchers, and psychiatrists.
List of contents
- INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER 1 Dream Reports From Sleep Laboratories
- CHAPTER 2 Dream Reports Collected in Non-Laboratory Settings
- CHAPTER 3 Findings From Studies Of Individual Dream Series
- CHAPTER 4 The Emergence of Dreaming in Children and Adolescents
- CHAPTER 5 The Cognitive Neuroscience of Dreaming
- CHAPTER 6 The Activation-Synthesis Theory of Dreaming
- CHAPTER 7 The Failed Freudian Revival
- CHAPTER 8 Does Dreaming Have Any Adaptive Function(s)?
- CHAPTER 9 A Promising Agenda
- Acknowledgements
- REFERENCES
- INDEX
About the author
G. William Domhoff, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology Emeritus and Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has published numerous articles on dreams in academic journals, as well as three previous books: The Mystique of Dreams: The Search For Utopia Through Senoi Dream Theory (1985), Finding Meaning in Dreams: A Quantitative Approach (1996), and The Scientific Study of Dreams: Neural Networks, Cognitive Development, and Content Analysis (2003).
Summary
This new neurocognitive theory documents the unexpected similarities of dreaming to waking thought, demonstrates personal psychological meaning can be found in a majority of dreams reports, has a strong developmental psychology dimension, pinpoints the neural substrate for dreaming, and shows it is very unlikely that dreaming has any adaptive function.
Additional text
Domhoff treats us to a fascinating book about a fascinating topic. A tour by a master through the science of dreams, from the discovery of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep to the latest research. An easy to read introduction for anyone, yet so comprehensive and detailed that every researcher will learn something.
