The objective of this research is to explore the biological mechanisms underlying dreams which are distinct from those associated with REM sleep. Drawing upon neuropsychoanalytical theories and neuropsychological findings, REM sleep and dreaming are posited as doubly dissociable phenomena. The core hypothesis is grounded in Freud's proposition that dreams function to address, through hallucinatory wish fulfillment, occasionally intense affect-laden behavioral impulses, thus averting premature awakening. Additionally, the study seeks to examine the impact of dreams on memory consolidation. The study's hypotheses include that individuals who have lost the capacity to dream while retaining REM sleep may exhibit poorer sleep quality and poorer emotional declarative memory consolidation. The study sample comprises neurological patients with posterior cortical lesions, placing them at risk of losing the ability to dream due to the lesion. Despite humans spending one-third of the day in sleep, with one-fifth of this time dedicated to dreaming, empirical sleep research and neuroscientific investigations have yet to fully elucidate the biological functioning of dreaming. Consequently, the study aims to shed light on the question of why we actually dream.
Original language: German