Conscious states of dreaming.
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Authors
Strongman, L.
Keywords
Dreaming
Memory
Consciousness
Memory
Consciousness
Description of form
Publisher
Rights
Rights holder
Issue Date
2014
Peer-reviewed status
Type
Article
Language
en
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to draw analogies between dreaming and quantum states of the mind and also to make inferences about the relationship between dreaming states, waking states, and memory. That dreaming is intrinsically associated with memory has been an opinion asserted by many researchers including Nielsen and Stenstrom (2005), Fosse, Fosse, Hobson, and Stickgold (2003), and Lee (2010). However, if dreaming is consciously recollected it must be that memory is also active at the time of dreaming, and if this is so, then the use of memory from dreaming must be associated with consciousness in the waking state. If a concept of consciousness is conceived as following from a layering of human perception, cognition, and physiological experience, then the brain may be understood as having the potential to produce quantum states — indeed the complexity of such brain states may make the experience of consciousness possible. The qualia of thoughts and consciousness, such as those experienced when dreams are recalled, can be likened to fluctuations in quantum states of the mind. Dreaming seems ephemeral yet may have a survival function.
Citation
Strongman, L. (2014). Conscious states of dreaming. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 35(4), 189-200.