Dreaming: What’s Going on? Dream behavior Theories of Dreaming Conclusions What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? True / predictive? Basic Methodology (if we have time…)

Some Questions: Are Dreams meaningful--what do they mean? Are the predictive or “true”? How do they differ from other states? What is their function do they even have one? Are they brain functions or mind functions?

Dream behavior & description Within sleep Amount Brainwave activity & bodily quietude the paradox REM

Dreams & REM sleep REM amount & periodicity Brainstem cholinergic & adrenergic promoting & inhibiting areas A regular activity rooted in the brain

Outline Characteristics and Descriptions Theories of Dreaming Conclusions What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? True / predictive? Basic Methodology (if we have time…)

Theories of Dreaming Dreams as meaningful events: Freud Are dreams meaningful???--the big question

Psychoanalytic Theory Mental conflict Unconscious motivations Two forces: impulses & defenses Dreams as a release Dreamwork and its results Latent dream Manifest dream Remembered dream Dreamwork and forgetting as protective mechanisms Poetzel Effect

Freud & Neuroimaging (Allen Braun) Limbic system (emotion active during REM) Prefrontal cortex (working mem. Att’n, logic & self-monitoring) inactive during REM Above consistent with dream bizarreness & emotional disinhibition/wish fulfillment Visual cortex inactive but higher visual areas active so we see w.o. visual input Mark Solms: injured Pons vs. injured Forebrain Pons-disrupts REM but dreaming goes on, Forebrain-lose dreaming but REM goes on.

Variations on Psychoanalytic Explanation + Challenges Dement & Kleitman: REM & implications Hall and Cartwright: Dream Series Challenging Views Dreams as random activity (Hobson +) Synthesis (perhaps)

Other Neuroscience Views Crick: Purge extraneous connections Evans: Sorting function on day’s events Winson: Sorting for survival Hobson: random activity & activation-synthesis hypothesis

Hobson: Dream Transformations From: inanimate animate character To: inanimate 21 0 0 Animate 2 0 7 Character 0 0 14

Outline Characteristics and Descriptions Theories of Dreaming Conclusions What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? True / predictive? Basic Methodology (if we have time…)

Dream Characteristics Lack of active volition Absence of ongoing reflective judgment Limited to phenomena of the immediate present Diffuse cognitive slippage--dreamlike confusion - transformations of perception, thought, memory, emotion, relationships, etc. Gaps in experience: 20% Confusion of thought & irrational intuitions: 41% Problems in sustained attention: 5% Memory deficiencies within the dream: 15% Overall, even 51% of "clearest dreams" had clouding But not radical (scz, psychedelic) but rather more like that of waking life Can even have hallucinations or psychedelic experiences in dreams (as in waking life!) Ex. flying 4%, bizarre figures, 4%, changed identity 3%, LSD-like transformations of vision 13%. Mostly visual 47%. Somatic 10%, audit. 14%.

Conclusions Can we obtain meaningful insights about ourselves through our dreams? What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? True / predictive?

Outline Characteristics and Descriptions Theories of Dreaming Conclusions What can we learn from our dreams? Are they meaningful? True / predictive? Basic Methodology

Basic Methodology Experimentation Independent vs. Dependent variables Observational vs. Experimental studies Causation vs. Correlation Experimental “control”

Making Observations Scientific observations often begin with a question or hypothesis. The hypothesis must be testable. This calls for an operational definition of key terms to specify the study’s dependent variable. Data must also be systematically collected. Researchers ignore anecdotal evidence. - Psychologists, like all scientists, proceed by examining patterns in carefully measured data. - But what exactly should they measure? - Need to specify a research question as a testable, falsifiable hypothesis about concepts that are well defined as observable responses (or operationalized). - These operational definitions must also be valid; a concept like "aggression" is better operationalized by counting punches than by measuring frowns. Once a question is formed, data collection must be systematic (that is, not dependent on anecdotes) and not influenced by the hypothesis.

Courtesy of American Media, Ltd. 1.2 Testable hypotheses? Astrologers and newspaper tabloids often predict the future, but the phrasing of these predictions is usually so open-ended that we can’t test the claims in any rigorous way.

Defining the Sample Based on observations of a sample, psychologists want to draw conclusions about a broad population. Random sampling All members of the population have an equal chance of being picked to participate. Researchers also use other procedures, including stratified sampling and case studies. Defining the right sample for the desired conclusions is a key step in measurement; common approaches include random sampling, maximum variation sampling, and carefully chosen case studies.

The Power of Experiments The two groups must be matched at the outset of the experiment. To ensure matching groups, researchers use: random assignment. within-subject comparison. taking precautions to address problems created by the sequence of conditions Control groups should be matched as closely as possible to the experimental group to isolate the desired effect. Random assignment is the best way to guarantee that groups are matched and prevents the third-variable problem. An additional tool for matching experimental and control groups is to use the same groups for both conditions (a within-subjects design). These design features are all used to establish that only our variable of interest can potentially explain any differences we see in the data, which is the goal of internal validity.

The Control Condition

Assessing External Validity Researchers want their study to mirror circumstances of the broader world. external validity External validity depends on many factors. The study should not change behaviors the researchers hope to understand. - Having the right sample is important in allowing us to generalize our conclusions—that is, for the study's external validity.

Assessing External Validity One concern here involves the study’s possible demand characteristics: cues that can signal to participants how they’re supposed to behave One way of avoiding this problem is to use a double-blind design.

Courtesy John Chase/Chasecartoons.com 1.8 Double-blind testing Unlike the effort shown here, double-blind testing doesn’t involve experiments done by pairs of blindfolded researchers. Instead, it involves studies in which neither the person tested nor the person conducting the test knows the experimental hypothesis and neither knows which participants are in which comparison group.

Measurement The Description of Data Central tendency Variability Mean, median, mode Variability Variance Standard deviation Correlation & significance level

Measurement

T H HT TH HH TT T = tails H = heads

More Measurement