Structural Processes Behind How Dreams Are Formed
As humans, we naturally put great emphasis on understanding the different elements of our waking life. But very few of us pay attention to our sleeping life and ask themselves the questions of how dreams are formed. This article aims to provide an overview of the processes behind dream creation.
Neuroanatomical Process of How Dreams Are Formed
The journey begins in the brainstem, specifically the pons. This region acts like a conductor, initiating REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. During REM sleep, brain activity surges, particularly in areas associated with emotion, memory, and visual processing. This sets the stage for the “forebrain” to take center stage. The limbic system, a collection of structures crucial for processing emotions and memories, provides the raw material for dreams. The prefrontal cortex, responsible for higher-order functions like planning and narrative construction, then integrates these elements, weaving them into a story. However, unlike a well-lit stage, dreams often unfold in a more chaotic and illogical manner, reflecting the involvement of other brain regions.
The Role of Emotions and Memory in How Dreams Are Formed
Our dreams construct themselves from our waking life memories. The “Dreaming and episodic memory” published in the National Library Research, have found that 65% of our dreams incorporate elements from recent waking life. This remembrance doesn’t translate to a direct replay of specific memories. Instead, the focus seems to be on emotional salience of the dream rather than the factual details.
Dreams form themselves from emotions and memories in two steps:
1. Memory Fragmentation
Memory fragmentation refers to the process during REM sleep where the brain breaks down memories from waking life into smaller pieces. These fragments can be sensory details (sights, sounds, smells), emotions (stress, joy, fear), or even specific actions (talking, running, hiding).
2. Emotional Recasting
After fragmenting memories, the brain engages in emotional recasting. Here, the dream narrative is rebuilt using the fragmented pieces, but with a strong emphasis on the emotional core. The specific details of the memory might be lost or distorted, but the emotional essence takes center stage.
These fragmented memory pieces and emotionally charged cores form the building blocks for dream narratives. The brain takes these elements and weaves them together to create a new and often illogical dreamscape. This allows the dream to focus on the emotional significance of an experience, even if the specific details are lost or distorted.
Neurochemicals That Influences The Structures of our Dreams
The interplay of neurochemicals plays a crucial role in dream formation:
- Serotonin and Norepinephrine (Wakefulness and Dream Entry): These neurotransmitters are associated with wakefulness and alertness. Studies like the one by Fox et al. (2013) suggest that their suppression during REM sleep (around 70% decrease) allows the brain to enter a dream-conducive state.
- Acetylcholine (Memory Consolidation and Fragmentation): Linked to memory consolidation, the rise of acetylcholine during REM sleep might explain why fragments of past experiences often surface in dreams. Acetylcholine might be involved in reactivating memory traces, leading to the incorporation of these elements into the dream narrative, even if they are not directly replayed.
- Dopamine (Reward, Motivation, and the Fantastical): Associated with reward and motivation, dopamine could be responsible for the fantastical and illogical elements that often characterize dreams.
- Acetylcholine: Acetylcholine might be involved in reactivating memory traces during sleep, leading to these elements being incorporated into the dream narrative, even if they are not directly replayed.
Now that you’ve familiarized ourselves about how dreams are formed, you might want to consider what can dream signify. If you are interested by such question, we recommend trying the Self: Dream Analysis app.
