Ep. 7: Your Mind on Dreams
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The elusive nature of dreams has led some to believe that they serve as a tool to uncover our unconscious desires, solve problems, and maybe help us catch a stroke of genius. While most of us barely remember our dreams in the morning, some lucid dreamers can control all aspects of their night-time hallucinations.
In this episode of Minds Matter, Beth Fisher and Ava Ma de Sousa discuss the science behind what we dream, why we dream, and whether lucid dreams could be a promising form of therapy.
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Academic Articles & Books
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Dreaming to solve problems: Barrett, D. (2017). Dreams and creative problem-solving. Annals Of The New York Academy Of Sciences, 1406(1), 64-67. doi: 10.1111/nyas.13412
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Dreaming about your ex could make you heal from the break-up: Cartwright, R. D. (1991). Dreams that work: The relation of dream incorporation to adaptation to stressful events. Dreaming, 1(1), 3.
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Lucid dreams for PTSD: Harb, G. C., Brownlow, J. A., & Ross, R. J. (2016). Posttraumatic nightmares and imagery rehearsal: The possible role of lucid dreaming. Dreaming, 26(3), 238–249. https://doi.org/10.1037/drm0000030
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Caution about lucid dreams (depression, sleep disturbance): Soffer-Dudek, N. (2020). Are Lucid Dreams Good for Us? Are We Asking the Right Question? A Call for Caution in Lucid Dream Research. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13, 1423.
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Intensity of brain waves in sleep relates to intensity of experience in the day: Eichenlaub, J. B., van Rijn, E., Gaskell, M. G., Lewis, P. A., Maby, E., Malinowski, J. E., ... & Blagrove, M. (2018). Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 13(6), 637-647.
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Rats dreaming about a maze: Louie, K., & Wilson, M. A. (2001). Temporally structured replay of awake hippocampal ensemble activity during rapid eye movement sleep. Neuron, 29(1), 145-156.
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Alpine racer (ski game) dreams: Wamsley, E. J., Perry, K., Djonlagic, I., Reaven, L. B., & Stickgold, R. (2010). Cognitive replay of visuomotor learning at sleep onset: temporal dynamics and relationship to task performance. Sleep, 33(1), 59-68.
Lighter Reading & Other Resources
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Scientific American Article Why You Shouldn't Tell People about Your Dreams​
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TED video breaking down some theories about why we dream