Dreaming as embodied simulation: A widower’s dreams of his deceased wife.

Abstract

This article presents argument and evidence in support of the hypothesis that dreaming can be understood as a form of embodied simulation. Building on many past studies of dream content employing the Hall and Van de Castle (1966) coding system, the article claims that most dreams dramatize the complex set of conceptions that are part of the dreamer's cognitive structure. Dreams embody conceptions primarily through literal enactments, making them somewhat akin to a theatrical play. The plausibility of this hypothesis is demonstrated through a quantitative analysis of emotions, social interactions, misfortunes, and good fortunes in a unique series of 143 dream reports written down over the space of 22 years by a widower because they were about his deceased wife. The inferences drawn from the analysis of the dream reports are consistent with the widower's written reflections on his marriage and his answer to a question sent to him by e-mail on a potentially embarrassing issue. The article also uses an Unrealistic Elements Scale to search for possible instances of figurative elements within the dream reports; about one third to one half of the unusual elements identified by means of this scale have some plausible connection to the conceptions expressed in the dream reports. The dream reports and information on the dreamer's life are available to everyone for further analysis on dreambank.net under the pseudonym "Ed.

Dreaming of the Kardashians: Media Content in the Dreams of US College Students

“…In psychology and neuroscience, there is fairly broad agreement that dreaming functions to integrate new experience, consolidate memory, and regulate mood (Rock ). I rely on a general neurocognitive theory of dreaming as it was first elaborated by Calvin Hall () and updated by G. William Domhoff (, , ). Although working partly within a Freudian idiom, Hall saw dreams as relatively accessible and built from an individual's “network of conceptions” (, 277), especially those conceptions related to the self.…”

“…Dreams, Hall suggested, “illuminate the basic predicaments of a person as that person sees them” (278). Taking into account separate lines of empirical evidence, Domhoff argues that “dreams are meaningful in that they relate to other psychological variables, and are continuous with waking conceptions” (, 15) and “may be the most vivid and multisensorial form of embodied cognition” (, 233). Dreams, he suggests, “use many of the same schemata and scripts that are available to waking thought” (, 168).…”

The invasion of the concept snatchers: The origins, distortions, and future of the continuity hypothesis.

“…Because of mistaken inferences in some of the earliest studies making use of the concept, which are examined in the next section, the continuity hypothesis was further refined. It was then supported in later studies of longer dream series that included more detailed analyses and obtained more detailed responses to the inferences from the dreamers, along with testimony from friends of the dreamer in one instance (Bulkeley, 2012(Bulkeley, , 2014Bulkeley & Domhoff, 2010;Domhoff, 2003, Chapter 5;2015;in press, Chapters 3-4).…”

Mimesis, Metaphors, Models, and Feet in American Dreams

“…While I draw upon psychoanalysis for concepts and methods, I am not attempting a psychoanalytic or ethno‐psychoanalytic analysis, as say Devereux () in his analysis of Mojave Indian dreams or Kracke () in his analysis of a bereaved Kagwahiv chieftain's dreams in Brazil. Indeed, I aim neither at the deep personal analysis that can only come from work between a trained therapist and a committed client, nor at a content analysis of my sample like those undertaken by Hall and Van de Castle () and more recently by Domhoff (see, for example, ). Rather, I use Clara's dream, interpreted in light of her self‐analysis, along with other dreams and self‐analyses from my study to explore the nature of dream cognition and American personhood models in an approach that takes mimesis as central .…”