PSYC 444 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Hypnagogia, Sensemaking, Benzene
14 May 2018
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PSYC 444 – LECTURE 15
DREAMS AND MEMORY
Hypnagogic dreams
• Proximal and distal memory sources
• Semantic links between distal dream elements
There is tension between stability and flexibility of memory traces
• We want to remember the what, where and when qualities and be able to adapt to the changing environment and use memory to predict new things
Dreaming never replaces episodic events in their entirety. However, the richness of our autobiographical memories is evident in dream traces, some coming from
events that occurred years ago.
DREAMS AND INSIGHT/PROBLEM-SOLVING
Dream incubation: turning to dreams to reach an answer after working on something intensity without being able to come to a conclusion.
Kekule was trying to determine the structure of the benzene molecule
• The way in which this molecule folded came to him as a hypnagogic image at sleep onset
• The epiphany or insight was that the molecular is circular
• At this moment, this image was meaningful to him because he was working so hard at this problem prior to sleeping. The problem-solving process was
happening within the dream.
Kekule’s drea: I turned the chair to face the fireplace and slipped into a languorous state. Again, atoms fluttered before my eyes. Smaller groups stayed mostly in
the akgroud this tie. My id’s eye, sharpeed y repeated isios of this sort, o distiguished larger figures i aifold shapes. Long rows, frequently linked
more densely; everything in motion, winding and turning like snakes. And lo, what was that? One of the snakes grabbed its own tail and the image whirled mockingly
before my eyes. I came to my senses as though struck by lightning; this time, too, I spent the rest of the night working out the results of y hypothesis.”
DREAMS AND MEMORY: HYPER-ASSOCIATIVITY
We pick up general patterns and the global, holistic worldview consciously but there are a lot of brain processes occurring unconsciously
• One role of dreaming may be to bring these patterns together in a more cohesive manner, binding together distant traces to make novel wholes.
• Dreams use our memory and knowledge as source material but rearranges them in a new way.
o This may change our neural connections.
o Sense-making process of dreaming
Dreams function in a hyper-associative manner
• Allows us to make link between temporally distinct experiences
• Emotional and personally relevant experiences may be incorporated preferentially
• Continuity hypothesis: we dream about things we care about and related context
Dreams extract the gist and create the central image
• When the dream is re-remembered several times, the details often change, but the powerful central image remains constant – it is the best-remembered
part of the dream, and does not change in retelling, though the surrounding story may fade or be forgotten or be altered with each telling.
Eaple: Harta’s tidal ae drea
I was on a beach with a friend of mine; I think it was Jane. The sun was shining. But suddenly the sky grew darker, a storm came up, and this huge wave broke over us
and swept us away. I got tured oer ad oer. I’ ot sure I ade it to the surfae. I this, the tpial tidal ae drea, the etral iage the part i oldfae
type) is always remembered, while the rest of the dream changes with retelling.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Dreams are made of memory sources but are structured by affect and emotion
• Central image: the organizing affective principle of the dream
• Thymophor: emotion carry-over; emotion translated into imagery as a basic element of human creativity.
Dreams contextualize emotion and are structured in an associated manner
• e.g. metaphors, fantasies, imagination, etc.
Nodes of the autobiographical system are not just connected in a feedforward, linear manner but dynamically as well. More specifically, activation of one node leads
to a cascade of activations in various nodes.
• Reiiset of Freud’s pshoaalti theor: constructing backwards, starting from the dream
• The differee is that Freud’s theor is foused o ifatile eroti fatas.
CENTRAL IMAGE POST 9/11
10 dreams before and 10 dreams after 9/11 from dream diaries belonging to 16 participants were studied
• Foud that post 9/11, dreas are ore itese ut are ot eessaril epliitl liked to the attak
• Did’t start dreaig aout plae rashes per se ut aout the ai iage, iolig death, iolee, et. The seodar iage is the attack itself.
It does’t atter hat speifi eleets are iorporated ut how the cognitive system reacts to the general stressor
HARTMANN: BOUNDARIES
Mental boundaries that are associated with different facets of personality
The principle is that we are creatures with many cognitive nodules, a behavioral style and particular relationship with the world
• These relationships are on a continuum ranging from having thick to thin boundaries
o Thick boundary: there is nothing in common between you and me
o Thin boundary: we all have intersubjective fields of communal awareness
• Individuals with thinner boundaries experience more dream recall, more nightmares, more intense central image and more daydreaming
• This boundary is empirically measurable
The boundary between sleep and wake is more continuous in people with a thinner boundary.
• There are great individual differences in ability to daydream; some people have daydreams as vivid as dreams, and others completely unable to daydream
• In terms of mental health, it would be ideal to be somewhere between having a thick and thin boundary
Those with a thin boundary do not experience these mental states as separate/different and attribute more importance to them.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
There is tension between stability and flexibility of memory traces: we want to remember the what, where and when qualities and be able to adapt to the changing environment and use memory to predict new things. Dreaming never replaces episodic events in their entirety. However, the richness of our autobiographical memories is evident in dream traces, some coming from events that occurred years ago. Dream incubation: turning to dreams to reach an answer after working on something intensity without being able to come to a conclusion. Kekule was trying to determine the structure of the benzene molecule. The way in which this molecule folded came to him as a hypnagogic image at sleep onset. The epiphany or insight was that the molecular is circular. At this moment, this image was meaningful to him because he was working so hard at this problem prior to sleeping. The problem-solving process was happening within the dream.
