Dreaming: A Very Short IntroductionWhat is dreaming, and what causes it? Why are dreams so strange and why are they so hard to remember? Replacing dream mystique with modern dream science, J. Allan Hobson provides a new and increasingly complete picture of how dreaming is created by the brain. Focusing on dreaming to explain the mechanisms of sleep, this book explores how the new science of dreaming is affecting theories in psychoanalysis, and how it is helping our understanding of the causes of mental illness. J. Allan Hobson investigates his own dreams to illustrate and explain some of the fascinating discoveries of modern sleep science, while challenging some of the traditionally accepted theories about the meaning of dreams. He reveals how dreaming maintains and develops the mind, why we go crazy in our dreams in order to avoid doing so when we are awake, and why sleep is not just good for health but essential for life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. |
Contents
1 | |
2 Why did the analysis of dream content fail to become a science? | 15 |
3 How is the brain activated in sleep? | 32 |
4 Cells and molecules of the dreaming brain | 48 |
5 Why dream? The functions of brain activation in sleep | 64 |
6 Disorders of dreaming | 80 |
sleep and mental illness | 88 |
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Common terms and phrases
acetylcholine activated during sleep activation in sleep aminergic systems animals answer anxiety Aserinsky aspects associated awake awakening awareness behaviour bizarreness brain activation brain regions brain self-activates brain stem brain–mind changes Chapter chemical cholinergic cognitive conscious experience correlation cortex declarative memory delirium dream consciousness dream content dream journal dream plot dream reports dream science dream theory emotional salience enhanced episodic memory exam explain fact features of dreaming formal features Freud global hallucinations hallucinatory human hyperassociative hypothesis important individuals inhibition instinct intense interpretation Jouvet limbic means mediate mental activity mind motor neuromodulation neurons never night night terrors normal NREM occur orientation perception PGO waves physiological psychological psychosis rapid eye movement reflex REM sleep Richard Newland scientific sensorimotor sensory serotonin sleep and dream sleep deprivation sleep lab sleep onset sleep science stimuli studies thermoregulation thought unconscious understand visual waking and dreaming