Dreams often depict threats and/or social situations, yet the reason why one may experience dreams are
inconclusive. Dreams may appear as frivolous figments of imagination, but this may be the neuroscience
brink of resolving dysfunctional dreaming and sleeping patterns. Some cognitive theories that have
developed to explain this phenomenon include the purpose of emotional adaptation, the stimulation of
problem solving and creativity, and the exploration of weak associations within our memories and
knowledge base. Specifically, dreams originate in the brainstem and are resultant from its random
activation. Research conducted with dreamers who experience lucid dreams and hypnotization would
allow further understanding of the maintenance of working memory in sleep, the ability to combine
advantages from states of wakefulness and sleep to intervene dysfunctional dreaming and further develop
hypnotic therapy within neuroscience.
The Konkoly et al., researcher team of 2021 sought to bridge the fragmented retelling of dreams to experimenters, by administering direct communication and quick analysis turn around in a lab as patients underwent a variation of sleep study within the publication of their article, “Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep.” The method attained in the measurement of brain activity involved EEGs for the tracking of sleep waves in conjunction with electrophysiological signals from polysomnographic recordings for the verification of the sleep stage of interest REM. The results compiled from electrophysiological signals allowed the composition of data from veridical perceptual analysis of novel information, maintenance of information in working memory, simple computation, and volitional replies. Participants would notify experimenters of their responses with predetermined eye signaling; EOG signals were utilized to measure the eye movements of their responses and also displayed their real-time eye movements directly on a computer monitor. Lucid sleep state were generally attained by participants near the beginning of a period of REM sleep. After participants signaled, they had entered a lucid sleep state experimenters would present them with a spoken math problem. After participants fully regained their consciousness, they reported the equation presented in their dream. Although many of the participants answered the equations correctly in REM sleep, altered math problems or answers were also reported. Previous studies have long proven that cognition and consciousness never cease in the state of sleep; rather cognitive abilities become limited from the probable cause of dorsolateral prefrontal deactivation during REM sleep. The results that were drawn from this study reveal that two-way communication between experimenters and dreamers is in fact attainable. Which encourages greater funding in dream research to utilize differing stimuli to perfect levels of communication from basic to complex.
A similar study conducted by Diolaiuti et al., research team for the “Association of hypnotizability
and deep sleep: any role for interoceptive sensibility?” in year prior to Konkoly’s publication,
explores the influence of interoceptive sensibility in relation to the degree of hypnotizability in the
(N3) deep sleep stage. Specifically, the integration of information from inner sensations when
conscious reviewed in participants experiencing deep sleep. The method of recording brain activity
within this study was the use of polysomnographic EEG recordings. Participants underwent a
familiarization night to gain base rate recordings that were sampled at 512 Hz, with 20 electrodes
placed within the 10–20 International System and grounded at Pz. The N1 sleep state was depicted
in polysomnographic EEG recordings in shorter durations within participants who self-reported
high degrees of hypnotizability than in participants who self-reported medium/low degrees of
hypnotizability. Regarding the recordings produced from the N3 sleep state, participants who self-
reported high degrees or low degrees of hypnotizability produced significantly shorter durations in
comparison to the self-reports of medium hypnotizability. The study concluded that hypnotizability
is not linearly correlated regarding the duration of deep sleep experienced in the N3 sleep stage.
The duration of deep sleep was reported non-significant when interoceptive characteristics are
controlled, including self-regulation, emotional awareness, and body listening. Poor sleep quality
has been linked with poor interoception in healthy patients and those who experience depression
and/or anxiety. This reveals a resistance in participants who self-report high degrees of
hypnotizability and participants who self-report low degrees of hypnotizability with an inability of
entering deep sleep stages. Such findings imply that participants who self-report high degrees of
hypnotizability are less likely to enter deep sleep. This research conducted byDiolaiuti provides
insight in revealing an unintended aspect of deep sleep that is necessary in order to induce lucid
sleep states. The research findings concluded that hypnotizability does not correlate to the duration
of deep sleep experienced in the N3 sleep stage. Although lucid sleep states are only experienced
in REM sleep, thus proving that each sleep state must be individually reviewed in order to unpack
the causation of dysfunctional dreaming. As each sleep stage is characterized by their own
functions and properties.
Works Cited
Diolaiuti, F., Fantozzi, M.P.T., Di Galante, M. et al. Association of hypnotizability and deep sleep: any role for interoceptive sensibility?. Exp Brain Res 238, 1937–1943 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05853-4
Konkoly, K.R., Appel, K., Chabani, E. et al. Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. Cell Press Journal: Current Biology, vol. 31 no. 7, 18 Feb. 2021, pp. 1417-1427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.026
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