[...]... id, the brain and the mind Part of the change in paradigm exemplified by the shift from dream c o n t e n t to dream f o r m is the adoption of the philosophical conviction that the physical world is the only world that there is, that the brain and the mind are therefore inextricably united, and that dreaming is a distinctive f o r m of conscious awareness caused by the state of the brain in sleep To. .. h i s last advantage is crucial to our effort to e x t e n d our understanding of mental life back into the waking state, and to obtain comparable quantitative data from the minds of the same individuals when awake and asleep Summary It is ironic to note that the first task of a science of the m i n d — t o describe, define, and measure polar states of consciousness such as waking and dreaming has only... that offer different explanations of the altered state of dreaming 18 2 The psychological basis for the differences between waking and sleeping 26 3 Imaging of brain activation in R E M sleep and the effects of brain damage on dreaming 109 4 Areas of the brain dealing with the different components of consciousness 134 5 Alterations of consciousness in dreaming 143 X D reaming has fascinated humankind... definition that can lead to the reliable identification of this state and m e t h o d s of measuring its properties During the c o u r s e of w o r k on the brain, which led to the suspicion that it might be brain activation in sleep that causes dreaming, we realized that the m o s t scientifically useful way to define and measure dreaming was to focus on the formal features rather than the c o n t e... believe that dreaming is all three of these things, but it is already crystal clear that many aspects of dreaming previously thought to be meaningful, privileged, and interpretable psychologically are the simple reflection of the sleep- related changes in brain state that we start to detail in Chapter 3 To provide a firmer grasp of the distinction b e t w e e n form and c o n t e n t , I offer an e x a... strengthened over the past SO years In the process, the b o o k offers the reader a unique opportunity to r e c o n s i d e r his or her own dream theory and, into the bargain, to learn about the fascinating discoveries of m o d e r n sleep s c i e n c e xii I What is dreaming? W hat causes dreaming? W h y are dreams so strange? W h y are they so hard to r e m e m b e r ? A t r u e s c i e n c e of dreaming. .. legitimate and intense concern and the occurrence of the event that one fears We can turn the question around and ask what constitutes scientific proof of the occurrence of dreams that are 20 Why did the analysis of dream content fail to b e c o m e a science? premonitions (premonitory dreams) T h e answer is that we would need to do what are called prospective studies, studies in which many individuals... i c h a r d Newland is the son of my f a r m e r neighbour, Marshall Newland, with w h o m I have had a long and c o m p l i c a t e d but successful and gratifying relationship In spite of widely divergent priorities we have managed to get along and to help each other F o r m e , the meaning of the dream is transparent: I am anxious about my p r o p e r t y and about entrusting it to people w h o... strange as to pass all understanding', why d o e s n ' t he go on and close the circle by hypothesizing that: 'Because the brain's memory mechanisms are so seriously disrupted during sleep we cannot escape bizarre mental experiences that would otherwise occur only during madness.' Indeed, the analogy with madness offers clues about the creation of dreams by the brain precisely because the form of dreaming. .. dreams at the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting: Two nights ago, a dream of Richard Newland It is a house maintenance nightmare I have too much property to maintain Richard and a friend are 'helping' me but it is an uncertain alliance, with the twin threats of incompetence and inattentiveness There are several scenes all with the same emotional theme: anxiety about maintenance details . w3 h1" alt="" Dreaming An Introduction to the Science of Sleep J. Allan Hobson is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts neurophysiological basis of the mind and behaviour; sleep and dreaming; and the history of neurology and psychiatry, with his most recent work focussing on the cognitive