The Meaning of Dreams

Author(s): Jonathan Winson

Source: Scientific American , Vol. 263, No. 5 (NOVEMBER 1990), pp. 86-97
Published by: Scientific American, a division of Nature America, Inc.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/24996977

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 The Meaning of Dreams
Dreams may reflect a fundamental aspect of mammalian
memory processing. Crucial information acquired during
the waking state may be reprocessed during sleep

by Jonathan Winson

T
broughout history human beings of a brain wave called theta rhythm fourth and final REM interval lasts 20
have sought to understand the suggest that dreaming reflects a pivot­ to 30 minutes and is followed by awak­
meaning of dreams. The ancient al aspect of the processing of mem­ ening. If a dream is remembered at all,
Egyptians believed dreams possessed ory. In particular, studies of theta it is most often the one that occurred
oracular power-in the Bible, for exam­ rhythm in subprimate animals have in this last phase.
ple, Joseph's elucidation of Pharaoh's provided an evolutionary clue to the This sleep cycle-alternating slow­
dream averted seven years of famine. meaning of dreams. They appear to be wave and REM sleep-appears to be
Other cultures have interpreted dreams the nightly record of a basic mam­ present in all placental and marsu­
as inspirational, curative or alternative malian memory process: the means by pial mammals. Mammals exhibit the
reality. which animals form strategies for sur­ various REM-associated characteristics
During the past century, scientists vival and evaluate current experience observed in humans, including EEG
have offered conflicting psychological in light of those strategies. The exis­ readings similar to those of the awake
and neuroscientific explanations for tence of this process may explain the state. Animals also dream. By destroy­
dreams. In 1900, with the publication meaning of dreams in human beings. ing neurons in the brain stem that in­
of The Interpretation of Dreams, Sig­ hibit movement during sleep, research­

T
mund Freud proposed that dreams he physiology of dreaming was ers found that sleeping cats rose up
were the "royal road" to the uncon­ first understood in 1953, when and attacked or were startled by invis­
scious; that they revealed in disguised researchers characterized the hu­ ible objects-ostensibly images from
form the deepest elements of an indi­ man sleep cycle. They found that sleep dreams.
vidual's inner life. More recently, in in humans is initiated by the hypno­ By studying subprimate animals, sci­
contrast, dreams have been character­ gogic state, a period of several min­ entists have discovered additional neu­
ized as meaningless, the result of ran­ utes when thoughts consist of frag­ rophysiological aspects of REM sleep.
dom nerve cell activity. Dreaming has mented images or minidramas. The They determined that neural control of
also been viewed as the means by hypnogogic state is followed by slow­ this stage of the sleep cycle is centered
which the brain rids itself of unneces­ wave sleep, so called because at that in the brain stem (the brain region clos­
sary information-a process of "re­ time the brain waves of the neocortex est to the spinal cord) and that during
verse learning ," or unlearning. (the convoluted outer mantle of the REM sleep neural signals-called pon­
Based on recent findings in my own brain) are low in frequency and large tine-geniculate - occipital cortex (PGO)
and other neuroscientific laboratories, I in amplitude. These signals are mea­ spikes-proceed from the brain stem
propose that dreams are indeed mean­ sured as electroencephalographic (EEG) to the center of visual processing, the
ingful. Studies of the hippocampus (a recordings. visual cortex. Brain stem neurons also
brain structure crucial to memory), of Researchers also discovered that a initiate a sinusoidal wave (one re­
rapid eye movement (REM ) sleep and night's sleep is punctuated by periods sembling a sine curve) in the hippo­
in which the EEG readings are irregular campus. This brain signal is called the­
in frequency and low in amplitude­ ta rhythm.
JONATHAN WINSON started his career similar to those observed in awake in­ At least one animal experiences slow­
as an aeronautical engineer, graduating dividuals. These periods of mental ac­ wave but not REM sleep-and, conse­
with an engineering degree from the Cal­ tivity are called REM sleep. Dreaming quently, does not exhibit theta rhythm
ifornia Institute of Teclli,ology in 1946. takes place solely during these peri­ when asleep. This animal is the echid­
He completed his Ph.D. in mathematics na, or spiny anteater, an egg-laying
ods. While in REM sleep, motor neu­
at Columbia University and then turned
rons are inhibited, preventing the body mammal (called a monotreme) that
to business for 15 years. Because of his
from moving freely but allowing ex­ provides some insight into the origin of
keen interest in neuroscience, howev­
er, Winson started to do research at tremities to remain slightly active. Eyes dreaming. The absence of REM sleep in
the Rockefeller University on memory move rapidly in unison under closed the echidna suggests that this stage of
processing during waking and sleeping lids, breathing becomes irregular and the sleep cycle evolved some 140 mil­
states. In 1979 he became an associate heart rate increases. lion years ago, when marsupials and
professor there and continued his work The first REM stage of the night fol­
on memory and dreaming. His research
lows 90 minutes of slow-wave sleep
has been supported by the Nationalln­
and lasts for 10 minutes. The second JACOB'S LADDER, painted in 1973 by
stitute of Mental Health, the National
Science Foundation and the Harry F.
and third REM periods follow short­ Marc Chagall, depicts a biblical story. Ja­
Guggenheim Foundation. er slow-wave sleep episodes but grow cob dreams of angels ascending to and
progressively longer themselves. The descending from heaven on a ladder.

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placentals diverged from the mono­ continues to be used in psychoanalysis. the world, our remote memories," Hob­
treme line. (Monotremes were the first Some theorists abandoned Freud al­ son wrote. In other words, the individ­
mammals to develop from reptiles.) together following the neurological dis­ ual's emotional vocabulary could be
By all evolutionary criteria, the per­ coveries. In 1977 J. Allan Hobson and relevant to dreams. In a further revi­
petuation of a complex brain process Robert McCarley of Harvard Medical sion of the original hypothesis, Hobson
such as REM sleep indicates that it School proposed the "activation-synthe­ also suggested that brain stem activa­
serves an important function for the sis" hypothesis. They suggested that tion may merely serve to switch from
survival of mammalian species. Under­ dreaming consists of associations and one dream episode to another.
standing that function might reveal the memories elicited from the forebrain Although Hobson and McCarley had
meaning of dreams. (the neocortex and associated struc­ presented an explanation of dream con­
tures) in response to random signals tent, the basic function of REM sleep
The Interpre­

W
hen Freud wrote from the brain stem such as PGO admittedly remained unknown. In 1983
tation of Dreams, the physiol­ spikes. Dreams were merely the " best Francis Crick of the Salk Institute in La
ogy of sleep was unknown. In fit" the forebrain could provide to this Jolla, Calif., and Graeme Mitchison of
light of the discovery of REM sleep, cer­ random bombardment from the brain the University of Cambridge, England,
tain elements of his psychoanalytic stem. Although dreams might at times proposed the idea of reverse learning.
theory were modified, and the stage have psychological content, they were Working from the Hobson-McCarley as­
was set for more neurologically based inherently meaningless. sumption of random neocortical bom­
theories. Dreaming came to be un- Hobson recently revised his theory, bardment by PGO waves and their own
. derstood as part of a biologically de­ acknowledging the deep psychological knowledge of the behavior of stimulat­
termined sleep cycle. Yet the central significance of dreams. The sense, or ed neural networks, they postulated
concept of Freud's theory continues plot, of dreams resulted from order that a complex associational neural net­
to be recognized-namely, the belief that was imposed on the chaos of neu­ work such as the neocortex might be­
that dreams reveal our innermost un­ ral signals, he said. "That order is a come overloaded by vast amounts of
conscious feelings and concerns-and function of our own personal view of incoming information. The neocortex

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 Arnaldo A . Arduini of the University
of California at Los Angeles. The re­
searchers observed a regular sinusoidal
signal of six cycles per second in the
hippocampus of rabbits when the ani­
mals were apprehensive of stimuli in
their environment. They named the
signal theta rhythm after a previously
discovered EEG component of the same
frequency.
Theta rhythm was subsequently re­
corded in the tree shrew, mole, rat and
cat. Although it was consistently ob­
served in awake animals, theta rhythm
was correlated with very different be­
haviors in each species. For example,
in marked contrast to the rabbit, envi­
ronmental stimuli did not induce the­
ta rhythm in the rat. Rats demonstrat­
ed theta rhythm only during move­
ment, typically when they explored. In
1969, however, Case H. Vanderwolf
of the University of Western Ontario
discovered there was one behavior dur­
HIPPOCAMPUS ing which the animals he studied, in­
cluding the rat, showed theta rhythm:
REM sleep.
In 1972 I published a commentary
pointing out that the different occur­
rences of theta rhythm could be un­
derstood in terms of animal behavior.
Awake animals seemed to show theta
rhythm when they were behaving in
ways most crucial to their survival. In
other words, theta rhythm appeared
when they exhibited behavior that was
not genetically encoded-such as feed­
ANATOMY of the brain and cross section of the hippocampus show some of the ing or sexual behavior-but rather a re­
regions involved in dreaming. In the hippocampus, incoming information is pro­ sponse to changing environmental in­
cessed sequentially in the dentate gyrus, the CA3 and the CAl pyramidal cells. In formation. Predatory behavior in the
subprimate species, theta rhythm is generated in the dentate gyrus and CAl cells. cat, prey behavior in the rabbit, and ex­
ploration in the rat are, respectively,
most important to their survival. (For
example, a hungry rat will explore be­
could then develop false, or "parasitic ," None of these hypotheses seems fore it eats even if food is placed in
thoughts that would jeopardize the to explain adequately the function of front of it.)
true and orderly storage of memory. dreaming. On the one hand, Freud's Furthermore, because the hippocam­
According to Crick and Mitchison's theory lacked physiological evidence. pus is involved in memory processing,
hypothesis, REM sleep served to erase (Although Freud had originally intend­ the presence of theta rhythm during
these spurious associations on a reg­ ed to describe the neurology of the un­ REM sleep in that region of the brain
ular basis. Random PGO waves im­ conscious and of dreams in his pro­ might be related to that activity. I sug­
pinged on the neocortex , resulting posed "Project for a Scientific Psycholo­ gested that theta rhythm reflected a
in erasure, or unlearning, of the false gy," the undertaking was premature, neural process whereby information es­
information. This process served an and he limited himself to psychoanal­ sential to the survival of a species­
essential function: it allowed the or­ ysis.) On the other hand , despite re­ gathered during the day-was repro­
derly processing of memory. In hu­ visions to incorporate elements of cessed into memory during REM sleep.
mans, dreams were a running record of psychology, later theories denied that In 1974, by recording signals from
these parasitic thoughts-material to dreams had meaning. the hippocampus of freely mOving
be purged from memory. " We dream to rats and rabbits, I found the source
from which theta rhythm was generat­

E
forget," Crick and Mitchison wrote. XPloring the neuroscientific as­
The two researchers proposed a re­ pects of REM sleep and of memo­ ed in the hippocampus. Together with
vision in 1986. Erasure of parasitic ry processing seemed to me to the neocortex , the hippocampus is be­
thoughts accounted only for bizarre hold the greatest potential for under­ lieved to provide the neural basis for
dream content. Nothing could be said standing the meaning and function of memory storage. The hippocampus (the
about dream narrative. Furthermore, dreams. The key to this research was Greek word for "seahorse," which it re­
dreaming to forget was better ex­ theta rhythm. sembles in shape) is a sequential struc­
pressed as dreaming to reduce fantasy Theta rhythm was discovered in 1954 ture composed of three types of neu­
or obsession. in awake animals by John D. Green and rons. Information from all sensory and

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associational areas of the neocortex of theta rhythm. In particular, the dis­ drite, allowing sodium from the extra­
converges in a region called the en­ covery of long-term potentiation (LTP) cellular space to flow into the neuron.
torhinal cortex; from there it is trans­ in 1973 showed the means by which This influx causes the granule cell to
mitted to the three successive neuronal memory might be encoded. Timothy V. become depolarized. If the depolar­
populations of the hippocampus. The P. Bliss and A. R . Gardner-Medwin of ization is sufficient, the granule cell
signal arrives first at the granule cells the National Institute of Medical Re­ fires, transmitting information to other
of the dentate gyrus, then at the CA3 search in London and Terje L0mo of nerve cells.
pyramidal cells (so called because of the University of Oslo found changes Unlike other neuronal receptors,
their triangular shape) and finally at the in nerve cells that had been intensely NMDA possesses an additional proper­
pyramidal cells of CAL After informa­ stimulated with electric pulses. ty. If a further activation of glutamate
tion is processed by this trio of cells, it Earlier studies had shown that if one occurs while the granule cell is depolar­
is retransmitted to the entorhinal cor­ stimulated the pathway from the en­ ized, a second channel opens up, al­
tex and then back to the neocortex. torhinal cortex to the granule cells of lowing an influx of calcium. Calcium
My studies showed that theta rhythm the hippocampus, the response of these is thought to act as a second messen­
was produced in two regions within the cells could be measured with a record­ ger, initiating a cascade of intracellular
hippocampus: the dentate gyrus and ing electrode. Using this technique, events that culminates in long-lasting
the CAl neurons. The rhythms in these Bliss and his colleagues measured the synaptic changes-or LTP. (The deSCrip­
two areas were synchronous. Subse­ normal response to a single electric tion given here has been necessarily
quently, Susan Mitchell and James B. pulse. Then they applied a long series Simplified. LTP is the subject of exten­
Ranck , Jr., of the State University of of high-frequency signals-called tetan­ sive ongoing investigation.)
New York Downstate Medical Center, ic pulses-to this pathway. After the Because the tetanic impulse applied
identified a third synchronous gener­ train of tetanic stimuli, a single electric by Bliss and his colleagues did not oc­
ator in the entorhinal cortex, and Rob­ pulse caused much greater firing in the cur naturally in the brain, the question
ert Verdes of Wayne State Universi­ granule cells than had been observed remained as to how LTP was achieved
ty discovered the brain stem neurons prior to the experiment. The height­ under normal circumstances. In 1986
that control theta rhythm. These neu­ ened effect persisted for as long as John Larson and Gary S. Lynch of the
rons transmit signals to the septum (a three days. This phenomenon, termed University of California at Irvine and
forebrain structure) that activate the­ LTP, was precisely the kind of increase Gregory Rose and Thomas V. Dunwid­
ta rhythm in the hippocampus and in neuronal strength that could be ca­ die of the University of Colorado at
the entorhinal cortex. Thus, the brain pable of sustaining memory. LTP is Denver suggested that the occurrence
stem activates the hippocampus and now considered a model for learning of LTP in the hippocampus was linked
the neocortex-the core memory sys­ and memory. to theta rhythm. They applied a small
tem of the brain. LTP is achieved by the activity of the number of electric pulses to CAl cells
To determine the relationship be­ NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) recep­ in the rat hippocampus and produced
tween theta rhythm and memory, I tor. This molecule is embedded in the LTP but only when the pulses were sep­
'
made a lesion in the rat septum. Rats dendrites of the granule cells and the arated by the normal time that elaps­
that had previously learned, using spa­ CAl cells of the hippocampus as well es between two theta waves-approxi­
tial cues, to locate a particular position as in neurons throughout the neocor­ mately 200 milliseconds. Theta rhythm
in a maze were no longer able to do so. tex. Like other neuronal receptors, the is apparently the natural means by
Without theta rhythm, spatial memory NMDA receptor is activated by a neu­ which the NMDA receptor is activated
was destroyed. rotransmitter-glutamate in this case. in neurons in the hippocampus.
Studies of the cellular changes that Glutamate momentarily opens a non­ Work in my laboratory at the Rocke­
bring about memory illustrated the role NMDA channel in the granule cell den- feller University duplicated Larson and

THETA RHYTHM

REM SLEEP

APPREHENSION

!HE!A � is present during different waking behav­ the animal's survival. In placental and marsupial animals, the­
lOrs ill different species. Each of these behaviors is pivotal to ta rhythm is present during rapid eye movement ( REM) sleep.

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 strated that individual CAl neurons in
the rat hippocampus fired when the
awake animal moved to a particular
location-namely, the neuron's place
field. The implication of this finding
was that the CAl neuron fired to map
the environment, thereby committing
it to memory.
In 1989 Pavlides and I located two
CAl neurons in the rat hippocampus
that had different place fields. We re­
corded from both cells simultaneous­
ly. After determining the normal firing
rates in awake and asleep animals, we
SYNAPTIC CLEFT
positioned a rat in the place field of one
11-""'7-''--- POSTSYNAPTIC of the neurons. The neuron fired vigor­
MEMBRANE ously, mapping that location. The sec­
ond cell fired only sporadically because
it was not coding space. We continued
recording from the two pairs of neu­
•
� rons as the rat moved about and then

(@ •
• �.
••
••
•
� entered several sleep cycles. Six pairs
of neurons were studied in this manner.

:�.
GLUTAMATE
@
•
••
••
We found that neurons that had cod­
ed space fired at a normal rate as the
animal moved about prior to sleep. In
sleep, however, they fired at a signifi­
• cantly higher rate than their previous
sleeping baseline. There was no such
• ••
increase in firing rate during sleep in
• •• neurons that had not mapped space.
•

i=a:
This experiment suggested that the re­
processing or strengthening of infor­
mation encoded when the animal was
•••
• awake occurred in sleep at the level of
• •
• individual neurons.
• • •
• •
•

E
• vidence that theta rhythm encodes
• •
memories during REM sleep may
DEPOLARIZATION LTP
be derived not only from neuro­
scientific studies but also from evolu­
NMDA RECEPTOR activation induces long-term potentiation (LTP), a model for
memory. The release of the neurotransmitter glutamate (left panel) opens a non­ tion. The emergence of a neural mecha­
NMDA receptor channel, allowing the influx of sodium, which depolarizes the neu­ nism to process memory in REM sleep
ron. If a further release of glutamate occurs while the cell is depolarized (center suggests differences in brain anatomy
panel), the NMDA receptor opens a second channel, which allows calcium to flow between mammals that have that as­
in, leading to LTP. LTP occurs as a result of increased sodium through the non­ pect of the sleep cycle and those that
NMDA channel (right panel) and the subsequent greater depolarization of the cell. do not. And in fact, such differences
clearly exist between the echidna and
the marsupials and placentals.
Lynch's CAl findings, but this time in tex and the hippocampus. There they The echidna has a large convoluted
the hippocampal granule cells. Constan­ are partitioned into 200-millisecond prefrontal cortex, larger in relation to
tine Pavlides, Yoram]. Greenstein and I "bites" by theta rhythm. The NMDA re­ the rest of the brain than that of any
then demonstrated that LTP was de­ ceptors, acting in conjunction with the­ other mammal, even humans. I believe
pendent on the presence and phase of ta rhythm, allow for long-term storage it needed this huge prefrontal cortex to
theta rhythm. If electric pulses were of this information . perform a dual function: to react to in­
applied to the cells at the peak of the A similar process occurs during REM coming information in an appropriate
theta wave, LTP was induced . But if the sleep. Although there is no incoming manner based on past experience and
same pulse was applied at the trough information or movement during REM to evaluate and store new information
of the waves-or when theta rhythm sleep, the neocortical-hippocampal net­ to aid in future survival. Without theta
was absent-LTP was not induced. work is once again paced by theta rhythm during REM sleep, the echidna
A coherent picture of memory pro­ rhythm. Theta rhythm might produce would not be able to process informa­
cessing was emerging. As a rat ex­ long-lasting changes in memory. tion while it slept. (The echidna does,
plores, for example, brain stem neu­ The results of one of my further ex­ however, show theta rhythm when for­
rons activate theta rhythm. Olfactory periments served to show that spatial aging for food.) For higher capabilities
input (which in the rat is synchronized memory was indeed being stored in the to develop, the prefrontal cortex would
with theta rhythm, as is the twitching rat hippocampus during sleep. John have to become increasingly large-be­
of whiskers) and other sensory infor­ O'Keefe and ]. Dostrovsky of the Uni­ yond the capacity of the skull-unless
mation converge on the entorhinal cor- versity College in London had demon- another brain mechanism evolved.

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 REM sleep could have provided this ta rhythm is present. In REM sleep this subjects who are undergoing marital
new mechanism, allowing memory pro­ information may be accessed again and separation and divorce. All the subjects
cessing to occur "off-line." Coincident integrated with past experience to pro­ are clinically evaluated and psychologi­
with the apparent development of REM vide an ongoing strategy for behavior. cally tested to ascertain their attitudes
sleep in marsupial and placental mam­ Although theta rhythm has not yet and responses to their personal crisis.
mals was a remarkable neuroanatom­ been demonstrated in primates, includ­ Cartwright's subjects are also awak­
ical change: the prefrontal cortex was ing humans, the brain signal provides a ened from REM sleep to report their
dramatically reduced in size. Far less clue to the origin of dreaming in hu­ dreams, which are then interpreted by
prefrontal cortex was required to pro­ mans. Dreams may reflect a memory­ the subjects themselves without ques­
cess information. That area of the brain processing mechanism inherited from tions that might influence their inter­
could then develop to provide ad­ lower species, in which information im­ pretation. In the 70 individuals studied
vanced perceptual and cognitive abili­ portant for survival is reprocessed dur­ to date, the dream content conveys the
ties in higher species. ing REM sleep. This information may person' s unconscious thoughts and is
The nature of REM sleep supports constitute the core of the unconscious. strongly correlated with the manner in
this evolutionary argument. During the Because animals do not possess lan­ which he or she is coping with the cri­
day, animals gather information that guage, the informatioI). they process sis in the waking world.
involves locomotion and eye move­ during REM sleep is necessarily sen­ Although the topic "chosen" for con­
ment. The reprocessing of this infor­ sory. Consistent with our early mam­ sideration during a night's sleep is un­
mation during REM sleep would not malian origins, dreams in humans are predictable, certain of life' s difficul­
be easily separated from the locomo­ sensory, primarily visual. Dreams do ties-as in the case of Cartwright's sub­
tion related to the experience-such not take the form of verbal narration. jects-so engage psychological survival
disassociation might be expecting too Also in keeping with the role REM that they are selected for REM sleep
great a revision of brain circuitry. So to sleep played in processing memories in processing. In the ordinary course of
maintain sleep, locomotion had to be animals, there is no functional necessity events, depending on the individual's
suppressed by inhibiting motor neu­ for this material to become conscious. personality, the themes of dreams may
rons. Suppressing eye movement was Consciousness arose later in evolution be freewheeling. Moreover, when joined
unnecessary because this activity does in humans. But neither is there any rea­ with the intricate associations that
not disturb sleep. son for the material of dreams not to are an intrinsic part of REM sleep pro­
Eye movement potentials, similar reach consciousness. Therefore, dreams cessing, the dream' s statement may be
to PGO spikes, accompany rapid eye can be remembered-most readily if obscure.
movement in the waking state and also awakening occurs during or shortly af­ Nevertheless, there is every reason to
during REM sleep. The function of these ter a REM sleep period. believe that the cognitive process tak­
signals has not yet been established, Consistent with evolution and evi­ ing place in Cartwright's subjects oc­
but they may serve to alert the visual dence derived from neuroscience and curs in every individual. Interpretation
cortex to incoming information when reports of dreams, I suggest that of the coherent statement that is being
the animal is awake and may reflect dreams reflect an individual's strategy made depends on the individual's trac­
the reprocessing of this information for survival. The subjects of dreams ing of relevant or similar events. These
during REM sleep. In any case, PGO are broad-ranging and complex, incor­ associations are strongly biased toward
spikes do not disturb sleep and do not porating self-image, fears, insecurities, early childhood experience.
have to be suppressed-unlike motor strengths, grandiose ideas, sexual ori­

M
neurons. entation, desire, jealousy and love. y hypothesis also offers an ex­
Dreams clearly have a deep psycho­ planation for the large amount

W
ith the evolution of REM sleep, logical core. This observation has been of REM sleep in infants and
each species could process the reported by psychoanalysts since Freud children. Newborns spend eight hours
information most important and is strikingly illustrated by the work a day in REM sleep. The sleep cycle is
for its survival, such as the location of of Rosalind Cartwright of Rush-Presby­ disorganized at this age. Sleep occurs

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food or the means of predation or es­ terian-St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago. in 50- to 60-minute bouts and begins
cape-those activities during which the- Cartwright is studying a series of 90 with REM rather than with slow-wave

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PULSES AT TROUGH
o

LTP in the granule cells of the hippocampus is achieved by 200 milliseconds (the time between the peaks of two theta
theta rhythm. Electric pulses, which have been separated by waves), applied at the peak of theta rhythm result in LTP.

94 SCIENTITIC AMERICAN November 1990

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I N TEL MAT H COP ROCE S S 0 R, S

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is powered by an We created Intel Math CoProcessors to
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Intel38r� Math CoProcessors.
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386 and 387 are trademarks of Intel Corporation. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. C 1990 Intel Corporation.

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 CORTEX \
PREFRONTAL
. reason for dreaming. The revised ver­
sion of the Hobson-McCarley activa­

�
tion-synthesis hypothesis aknowledges
the deep psychological core of dreams.
In its present truncated form, the hy­
pothesis of random brain stem acti­
CAT OPOSSUM ECHIDNA
vation has little explanatory or predic­
tive power.
The Crick-Mitchison hypothesis pro­
vides a function for REM sleep-re­
verse learning -but it does not apply
to narrative, only to the bizarre ele­
ments of the dream. What this implies
50-
with regard to REM processing in low­
er species must be defined before the
theory can be evaluated further. In ad­
dition, the Crick-Mitchison hypothesis
as applied to the hippocampus would
suggest that neurons fire randomly
(j)
z 100----­ during REM sleep, providing reverse
o
::::i learning. Instead, in my experiment on
.....I

� the neurons that coded space, these

o neurons fired selectively, implying an
(!) orderly processing of memory.
«
(/J Further study will continue to eluci­
a:
« date the meaning of dreams. In partic­
w
>- ular, an experiment is needed to deter­
EGG-LAYING mine whether eliminating theta rhythm
MAMMALS during REM sleep alone results in a
memory deficit. Because theta rhythm
has not been demonstrated in primates,
SLOW-WAVE SLEEP
200------------ it may have disappeared as vision re­
placed olfaction as the dominant sense.
An equivalent neural mechanism may
exist in the hippocampus that peri­
odically activates the NMDA receptor.
These studies and others to come will
probe fundamental aspects of memory
2�--------------------------- processing and the neuroscientific ba­
EVOLUTIONARY TREE shows the divergence of placentals and marsupials from sis of human psychological structure.
monotremes. The echidna, which does not possess REM sleep, has a larger pre­
frontal cortex compared with the rest of its brain than does any manunal, even hu­
mans. It is larger than in similarly sized animals, including the opossum and cat.
FURTHER READING

INTERSPECIES DIFFERENCES IN THE Oc­

sleep. By the age of two, REM sleep is quires the additional REM sleep time. CURRENCE OF THETA. Jonathan Winson
reduced to three hours a day, and the For reasons he could not possibly in Behavioral Biology, Vol. 7, No. 4,

adult pattern has been established. have known , Freud set forth a pro­ pages 479-487; 1972.
Loss OF HIPPOCAMPAL THETA RHYTHM
Thereafter, the time spent in REM sleep found truth in his work . There is an
RESULTS IN SPATIAL MEMORY DEFICIT IN
gradually diminishes to a little less unconscious, and dreams are indeed
THE RAT. Jonathan Winson in Science,
than two hours. the "royal road" to its understanding. Vol. 201, No. 435 , pages 160-163;
REM sleep may perform a special However, the characteristics of the un­ 1978.
function in infants. A leading theory conscious and associated processes of BRAIN AND PSYCHE: THE BIOLOGY OF
proposes that it stimulates nerve brain functioning are very different THE UNCONSCIOUS. Jonathan Winson.
growth. Whatever the purpose in in­ than Freud thought. Rather than being Anchor Press, Doubleday, 1985 .
LONG-TERM POTENTIATION IN THE DEN­
fants may be, I suggest that at about a cauldron of untamed passions and
TA TE GYRUS IS INDUCED PREFEREN­
the age of two, when the hippocampus, destructive wishes, I propose that the
TIALLY ON THE POSITIVE PHASE OF 0-
which is still in the process of devel­ unconscious is a cohesive, continual­
RHYTHM. Constantine Pavlides, Yoram
opment at birth, becomes functional, ly active mental structure that takes J. Greenstein, Mark Grudman and Jon­
REM sleep takes on its interpretive note of life's experiences and reacts ac­ athan Winson in Brain Research, Vol.
memory function. The waking infor­ cording to its own scheme of interpre­ 439, pages 383-387; 1988.
mation to be integrated at this point in tation. Dreams are not disguised as a iNFLUENCES OF HIPPOCAMPAL PLACE CELL
FIRING IN THE AWAKE S TA TE ON THE
development constitutes the basic cog­ consequence of repression. Their un­
AcTIVITY OF THESE CELLS DURING SUB­
nitive substrate for memory-the con­ usual character is a result of the com­
SEQUENT SLEEP EPISODES. Constantine
cept of the real world against which lat­ plex associations that are culled from
Pavlides and Jonathan Winson in Jour­
er experiences must be compared and memory. nal of Neuroscience, Vol. 9, No.8, pag­
interpreted. The organization in mem­ Research on REM sleep suggests es 2907-2918; August, 1989.
ory of this extensive infrastructure re- that there is a biologically relevant

96 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN November 1990

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He's tough, unforgiving, obsessive,
totally inflexible and not very tolerant.
Perfect.

True, every Lufthansa mechanic has a certain

uncompromising attitude toward his job. One
could say it's a result of the eight years of inten­
sive training he undergoes. Apprenticeships
that teach him the working function of every
nut and bolt on our aircraft. But we think it's some­
thing more. A drive. A strength of character. T his
can't be taught. It has to be there from the start .
W e like t o think o f it a s a passion. A passion
you can feel in everyone who works at
Lufthansa, whether they're maintaining our
engines on the ground or your comfort in the air.
A passion for perfection that ensures you the
best flying experience possible.

A passion for perfection�M Lufthansa

Lufthansa is a participant in the mileage programs of United, Delta.
USAir and Continental/Eastern. See your Travel Agent for details.

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