Born to adapt, but not in your dreams

Mulder, Theo; Hochstenbach, Jacqueline; Dijkstra, Pieter U.; Geertzen, Joannes

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2007.04.001

Cited by 30 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…People with tinnitus do not perceive tinnitus in their dreams analogous to what is reported for many phantom limb perceptions [21, 25]. Dreams and wakefulness are both associated with awareness, but in one state of awareness there is no tinnitus (dreams), whereas in the other (wakefulness) there is tinnitus.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

The Enigma of the Tinnitus-Free Dream State in a Bayesian World

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There are pathophysiological, clinical, and treatment analogies between phantom limb pain and phantom sound (i.e., tinnitus). Phantom limb pain commonly is absent in dreams, and the question arises whether this is also the case for tinnitus. A questionnaire was given to 78 consecutive tinnitus patients seen at a specialized tinnitus clinic. Seventy-six patients remembered their dreams and of these 74 claim not to perceive tinnitus during their dreams (97%). This can be most easily explained by a predictive Bayesian brain model. That is, during the awake state the brain constantly makes predictions about the environment. Tinnitus is hypothesized to be the result of a prediction error due to deafferentation, and missing input is filled in by the brain. The heuristic explanation then is that in the dream state there is no interaction with the environment and therefore no updating of the prediction error, resulting in the absence of tinnitus.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

The Enigma of the Tinnitus-Free Dream State in a Bayesian World

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There are only a few studies mentioning dreamed body representation in amputees to date (for a review see [ 15 ]), and up to now, there is only one study with an epidemiological approach to investigate this issue in amputees [ 16 ]. This study found that 31% of 146 participants, who were able to remember dream content, recalled themselves as mostly or always intact (i.e., as before amputation).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the high number of amputees who recalled themselves as having an intact body representation in dreams, the authors assumed the existence of an innate body model, predominantly opposing physical changes. However, the study by Mulder et al [ 16 ] excluded amputees without dream recall, and did not take dream recall frequency into account. This appears to be problematic since subjects with a low dream recall frequency have difficulties to give estimates about their dream content [ 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Amputation Pain Is Associated with the Recall of an Impaired Body Representation in Dreams—Results from a Nation-Wide Survey on Limb Amputees

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The experience of post-amputation pain such as phantom limb pain (PLP) and residual limb pain (RLP), is a common consequence of limb amputation, and its presence has negative effects on a person’s well-being. The continuity hypothesis of dreams suggests that the presence of such aversive experiences in the waking state should be reflected in dream content, with the recalled body representation reflecting a cognitive proxy of negative impact. In the present study, we epidemiologically assessed the presence of post-amputation pain and other amputation-related information as well as recalled body representation in dreams in a sample of 3,234 unilateral limb amputees. Data on the site and time of amputation, residual limb length, prosthesis use, lifetime prevalence of mental disorders, presence of post-amputation pain, and presence of non-painful phantom phenomena were included in logistic regression analyses using recalled body representation in dreams (impaired, intact, no memory) as dependent variable. The effects of age, sex, and frequency of dream recall were controlled for. About 22% of the subjects indicated that they were not able to remember their body representation in dreams, another 24% of the amputees recalled themselves as always intact, and only a minority of less than 3% recalled themselves as always impaired. Almost 35% of the amputees dreamed of themselves in a mixed fashion. We found that lower-limb amputation as well as the presence of PLP and RLP was positively associated with the recall of an impaired body representation in dreams. The presence of non-painful phantom phenomena, however, had no influence. These results complement previous findings and indicate complex interactions of physical body appearance and mental body representation, probably modulated by distress in the waking state. The findings are discussed against the background of alterations in cognitive processes after amputation and hypotheses suggesting an innate body model.

show abstract

“…The older the patient at amputation, the longer their dream body resists updating, with some patients exclusively dreaming themselves with intact bodies more than 12 years after the amputation. This suggests that the HC's body representation is much more habit‐bound than the EN somatosensory representation, which adjusts much more quickly …”

Section: The Perceived Selfmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurotypical subjective experience is caused by a hippocampal simulation

Faw¹,

Faw

2016

WIRES Cognitive Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We propose that the phenomenon known to neurologically intact people as 'Subjective Experience' is best understood as the activation of various sites in both extrinsic and intrinsic networks by a brand new episodic memory engram (i.e., a complex theta wave coding pattern originating from field CA1 of the hippocampus). Like a media news outlet, the hippocampal complex receives reportage from widely distributed structures around the brain and organizes and binds those reports together into a brand new episodic memory (i.e., a virtual-reality, movie-like, unified, contextualized, but vastly simplified summation of what just happened). This memory pattern is then 'broadcast' back to structures across the brain (via bidirectional pathways to and from the entorhinal cortex and perirhinal area) for error correction, to expedite predictive processing, and to inform sites in both extrinsic and intrinsic networks of one unified history. It is the cortical activation by the new episodic memory engram that gives rise to the event of experiencing. Because episodic memory is the only unified and contextualized representation of self-in-the-world in the brain, and because it informs most of the major cortices about 'what just happened,' it is subjectively misinterpreted as the actual interaction of the body/mind with its environment. This misinterpretation offers insight into many of the distinct and mysterious features of neurotypical subjective experience and the pathologies of consciousness. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1412. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1412 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

show abstract

Born to adapt, but not in your dreams

Cited by 30 publications

References 17 publications

The Enigma of the Tinnitus-Free Dream State in a Bayesian World

The Enigma of the Tinnitus-Free Dream State in a Bayesian World

Post-Amputation Pain Is Associated with the Recall of an Impaired Body Representation in Dreams—Results from a Nation-Wide Survey on Limb Amputees

Neurotypical subjective experience is caused by a hippocampal simulation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About