Conclusions
In exploring the structure and dynamics of dreams, I have turned to both the “soft” (interpretative) side of dreams and the “hard” (neurobiological) side. When appropriate, I have also presented research findings regarding how the hard and soft interact (especially regarding lucid dreams). The challenge is to prepare or find a theory that takes this interaction into account. Fortunately, there is a Neurocognitive Perspectives on Dreaming that has been offered by William Domhoff and his associates (2022). Domhoff proposed that dreaming occurs when the mature brain is adequately activated and disconnected from external stimuli without self-reflection. Similarities are noted between dreaming and mind wandering. I would note that mind wandering occurs during daydreaming and both the hypnagogic and hypnopompic states.
While Domhoff has offered a formal theory regarding dreams in recent years (Domhoff, 2022; Domhoff, 2023), it is useful to go back to an earlier essay (Domhoff, 2011) in which he is offering his first set of conclusions about dreams and mind wandering based on extensive research and literature review:
“[D]reams can be seen as a unique and more fully developed form of mind wandering, and therefore as the quintessential cognitive simulation. They are the quintessential cognitive simulation not only because they have elaborate story lines that are often enacted with exquisite sensory, motor, and cognitive involvement, with some dreams unfolding over a period of several minutes to half an hour or more. There is also the striking fact that they are usually experienced as real while they are happening.
At the cognitive level, the understanding of dreams would begin with the idea that they are based on many of the same conceptions and concerns that shape thinking and behavior in waking life . . . At the neurocognitive level, dreaming would be understood as the product of a subsystem of the brain’s default network, perhaps augmented by the recruitment of parts of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.”
Domhoff (2022) has focused on neural subsystems that are centrally involved in the default network of our brain. The default network supports the brain’s ‘intrinsic’ activity, including its resting state and forms of abstract cognition, such as self-referential thoughts, reminiscing, and future planning. Subsystems of the default network relate directly to dreaming and mind-wandering. Specifically, the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex subsystem and the medial temporal cortex subsystem of the default network are activated during dreams. These subsystems are involved in supporting imagination and mind-wandering while awake, suggesting that dreaming is a form of spontaneous imaginative thought.
