It would seem that some of the consolidation and reshaping of memories occurs through engagement of dreams. Insights might also be produced via dreams as a result of this consolidation. I will also be offering a theory later in this essay concerning a complex, intrapsychic process called “peremptory ideation” that might be engaged (in part) when we are dreaming. If this is the case, then a vital function might be served in bringing about the construction of important concepts and images that help to guide our actions in the “real world.”
There are at least two other neurobiological benefit to be derived from dreaming. David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Stanford, has been studying something called “defensive activation.” He notes that the brain is skilled at moving specific neuro functions from one part of the brain to another if that other part is not being sued. This is a remarkable phenomenon called “neuro plasticity.” Since we live in a world that sometimes is light and sometimes in dark where we live, there are many hours of the day when there isn’t much use for the visual cortex (at least until we invented l devices that light up the night). Eagleman (Eagleman and Vaughn, 2021, p. 26) has proposed that the brain preserves the territory of the visual cortex by keeping it active at night:
Dream sleep exists to keep neurons in the visual cortex active, thereby combatting a takeover by the neighboring sense. In this view, dreams are primarily visual precisely because this is the only sense that is disadvantaged by darkness. Thus, only visual cortex is vulnerable in a way that warrants internally generated activity to preserve its territory.
Another benefit is reported by Veronique Greenwood (2021). Erik Hoel, a theoretical neuroscientist at Tufts University, has suggested that dreams are purposefully “weird”: “the no-quite-right quality of dreams sharpens the brain’s ability to generalize about situations instead of having to memorize specific response to them.”
The functional weirdness in dreams apparently also contributes to the memory consolidation that I just identified. In summarizing some neurobiological research, Greenwood states that: “variation—weirdness, essentially—is widely thought to be important in the brain’s methods for consolidating memories.” Thus, we find that the role played by dreams might be quite complex and amenable to very detailed neurobiological analyses, as well as some quite sophisticated descriptions of inner-psychic processes.
Given my preliminary exploration of the potential adaptive functions to be served by dreams in the evolution of humans (and other species), I turn to a more detailed exploration of the functions that have just identified. I often will offer examples of specific dreams that I have collected from other people I have interviewed (whom I call the “dreamers’) I also offer some of my own dreams to exemplify the way(s) in which specific functions are being served. I begin with the most widely proposed function: wish-fulfillment.
Wish-Fulfillment
This is Freud’s original assumption about the function of dreams. The fulfillment of a specific desire (or need) is forbidden but is expressed anyway (often in disguised form). However, the wishes need not be sexual (at least on the surface). The wish can be very tangible and mature (not primitive). A dreamer received a wonderful resolution of a business challenge. A large payment was made by a customer. The dreamer recalled crying out “please don’t let this be a dream” – and then woke up.
Maybe this dream was primitive and fanciful – it was gift that the dreamer didn’t work for—or deserve. On the other hand, this dream helped to reinforce a real-life issue regarding a decision that the dreamer was about to make (and that the dreamer had been struggling with that evening—that was keeping the dreamer up for about an hour.
