The feeling priming theory (FPT) of dreaming.

Abstract

This article presents the feeling priming theory (FPT) of dreaming. According to the FPT, dreaming favors the motivation to avoid aversive anticipated events and to approach gratifying anticipated events. It is suggested that one component of anticipated emotions-anticipated feelings-is reproduced in dreams. Upon awakening and during the day, these anticipated feelings would remain activated (primed) in memory. Consequently, anticipated emotions would exert a greater influence on avoidance and approach behaviors, mainly through an increase in the intensity of anticipatory feelings (i.e., feelings of fear or hope/desire). This article comprises five main sections. First, the need for a new theory of the function of dreaming is addressed. Second, key constructs of the theory are described, including the constructs of "emotion" and "feeling." Third, a brief overview of the theory is presented. Fourth, seven hypotheses that constitute the core of the theory are discussed along with supporting evidence. Fifth, an explanation of nightmares based on the proposed theory is offered. The FPT represents an alternative to theories that attribute an emotion regulation function to dreaming. It offers a new perspective on the relationship between dreaming and waking emotions. In particular, the FPT does not label nightmares as dysfunctional. Instead, nightmares and other dysphoric dreams are hypothesized to result from the same processes as normal dreaming.

Dreamers’ evaluation of the emotional valence of their day-to-day dreams is indicative of some mood regulation function

“…In partial support of our third prediction, we observed that the discrepancy between the evaluation of positive emotions in the dream between the subject and the judge, termed as subjects' positivity bias, played a positive role in morning emotions, supporting the emotion regulation function theories of dreams (Perlis and Nielsen, 1993;Malinowski et al, 2019). The positive relationship observed between the subject's dream positivity bias and positive morning emotions may also be attributed to the feeling priming effect postulated by the Feeling Priming Theory (FPT; Lemyre et al, 2022) of dreams. According to FPT, feelings felt in dreams may be associated with feelings felt in waking due to the continued activation of dream feelings, in this case, heightened subjective perception of positive emotions, in memory during the postsleep period (Lemyre et al, 2022).…”

“…This finding is intriguing and suggests several phenomena at play. First, as seen in previous research, this difference could suggest that judges have 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.947396 more difficulty evaluating the positive emotions experienced by the dreamer in their dream narrative (Sikka et al, 2017;Lemyre et al, 2022). Interestingly, we did not find a correlation between the word length of the dream report and the degree of the subject's positivity bias, potentially suggesting that the positivity bias is not created by methodological artifact but rather may represent an adaptive psychological response.…”

“…The positive relationship observed between the subject's dream positivity bias and positive morning emotions may also be attributed to the feeling priming effect postulated by the Feeling Priming Theory (FPT; Lemyre et al, 2022) of dreams. According to FPT, feelings felt in dreams may be associated with feelings felt in waking due to the continued activation of dream feelings, in this case, heightened subjective perception of positive emotions, in memory during the postsleep period (Lemyre et al, 2022). In the multi-group path analysis model, we observed that subject's positivity bias was the second strongest predictor of positive morning emotions; however, we did not observe any associations between the subject's positivity bias and negative morning emotions or stress, which was incongruent with our predictions (Lemyre et al, 2022).…”

“…According to FPT, feelings felt in dreams may be associated with feelings felt in waking due to the continued activation of dream feelings, in this case, heightened subjective perception of positive emotions, in memory during the postsleep period (Lemyre et al, 2022). In the multi-group path analysis model, we observed that subject's positivity bias was the second strongest predictor of positive morning emotions; however, we did not observe any associations between the subject's positivity bias and negative morning emotions or stress, which was incongruent with our predictions (Lemyre et al, 2022). Although the statistical significance of the path between the subject's positivity bias and positive morning emotions was not significantly different between those who had more negative or positive dream nights, this association was still indeed stronger in those who had more negatively toned dreams, which partially supports our fourth prediction.…”

“…Finally, anticipatory stressful events, for example, an academic examination, et al, has been found to be incorporated into a recent dream, such that many students dreamt of forgetting answers or being late for the exam the night before (Arnulf et al, 2014). Furthermore, students who dreamt of the exam the night before performed better on the exam (Arnulf et al, 2014), demonstrating that episodic simulation during dreaming has an adaptive value and that there is a degree of continuity between anticipatory feelings during waking and in dreams as suggested by Lemyre et al (2022).…”