Exploring and developing the concept of the dream as a threat monitoring - alerting mechanism

• Verfasst von: Harwood, Rupert [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Exploring and developing the concept of the dream as a threat monitoring - alerting mechanism
• Titelzusatz: comment on Gewargis, Y. A. (2016). The true meaning of dreams
• Verf.angabe: Rupert Harwood
• E-Jahr: 2021
• Jahr: 2021-04-15
• Umfang: 9 S.
• Teil: volume:14
• Teil: year:2021
• Teil: number:1
• Teil: pages:156-164
• Teil: extent:9
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 21.04.2021
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: International journal of dream research
• Ort Quelle: Heidelberg : Univ.-Bibliothek, 2008
• Jahr Quelle: 2021
• Band/Heft Quelle: 14(2021), 1, Seite 156-164
• ISSN Quelle: 1866-7953
• DOI: doi:10.11588/ijodr.2021.1.76927
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Bibliogr. Hinweis: Ergänzung: Gewargis, Youash A.: Comment on "Exploring and developing the concept of the dream as a threat monitoring-alerting mechanism" by Rupert Harwood
• Bibliogr. Hinweis: Ergänzung zu: Gewargis, Youash A.: The true meaning of dreams
• Sach-SW: cortical
• Sach-SW: defence
• Sach-SW: Dream
• Sach-SW: hypoxia
• Sach-SW: NREM
• Sach-SW: REM
• Sach-SW: sleep
• Sach-SW: threats
• K10plus-PPN: 1755609418
• K10plus-PPN:
  Universitätsbibliothek
• Lokale URL UB: Zum Volltext

Abstract

Summary: It is not clear that established dream theories adequately explain the purpose of something that accounts for such a substantial percentage of our time. Gewargis’s innovative theory - that dreams function to safeguard the organism during sleep - seems plausible and to have the potential to make an important contribution to a better understanding of why we dream. There are, however, a number of possible problems with it. In particular, the published literature is not used to substantiate the empirical claims upon which the theory is built; and this could be a major issue, as a some of these claims seem to be at variance with current scientific knowledge and/or to have limited face validity. This comment article draws upon the neurology literature to critique and suggest amendments to Gewargis’s theory; and proposes additional hypotheses relating to why and how dreams might act as a monitoring-alerting mechanism and protect the sleeper from a range of internal and external perturbations during REM and NREM sleep; and not just, as Gewargis appears to suggest, guard against inadequate blood flow to the brain or “oxygen-deprivation” to the lungs during REM sleep. A central argument in this comment piece is that to perform a range of functions, such as memory processing, the dream is where the sleeper’s consciousness is focused for much of the time asleep, and so it is also where the alerting-arousal messages need to be presented and processed during that time. In other words, and at variance with what Gewargis proposed, we don’t dream so as to provide a sleep defence mechanism, but a Dream Sleep-Defence Mechanism (DSDM) is needed because we dream. It addition, it argued that dreams - including through the use of broad categories (and, in particular, potential danger/not potential danger), rather than representational reflections of the reality in question - provide a cortical resource efficient mechanism. It is recognised, however, that support for a dream sleep defence mechanism is at best circumstantial and that the idea needs to be tested in experimental studies if it is to move beyond conjecture.