The Oxford Handbook of the Cognitive Science of Religion by Justin L. Barrett

Author:Justin L. Barrett [Barrett, Justin L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780190693350
Publisher: OxfordUP
Published: 2022-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Dreams

Although Andersen et al.’s (2014) predictive coding scheme is problematic with respect to certain varieties of mystical experience, it appears to be quite applicable to dream content, that is, what the mind dreams about (Bulkeley, 2016, p. 121). Accordingly, dream content derives from the mind’s available models/schemata under (bodily) conditions that compromise access to the sensorium (cf. Hobson & Friston, 2012, 2014). The general lack of access to sensory—particularly exteroceptive—input during dreaming is widely accepted by researchers (e.g., see Hobson & Friston, 2012; Taves & Asprem, 2017, pp. 47–48). Since the mind is largely deprived of exteroceptive input during sleep, external sources of information operating contemporaneously to the dreaming mind have little impact on the forms of content that are experienced by the dreamer; hence, preexisting schemata “dominate” oneiric experience (cf. Andersen et al., 2014, pp. 223–224).11

The previous notion is consistent with some understandings of continuity theory. Continuity theory is perhaps the most widely discussed cognitive/psychological theory of dreaming. Although the precise definition of continuity theory continues to be debated (cf. Domhoff, 2017; Schredl, 2017), it essentially aims to describe dream content and reasoning in relation to waking experience (Bulkeley, 2016, pp. 119–122; Kahan & LaBerge, 2011). Dream content, in particular, is understood by some to reflect both “overt behavior” and “covert thoughts, feelings, and fantasies” enacted during waking-life (Schredl, 2017, p. 352). What is implicit in this description, and more-or-less explicated in other descriptions of continuity theory (e.g., Schredl, 2003; Paquette, 2018), is that oneiric events are essentially dependent on the dreamer’s waking-life experiences. In other words, the dreaming mind generally makes use of schemata that are formed and reformed while the individual was previously awake. This is not to deny the idea that dreaming may introduce refinements to preexisting schemata or even result in novel schemata that influence future waking and dreaming behavior (Lohmann, 2003b); nevertheless, it is commonly accepted that dream content is contingent on an individual’s prior waking experience.12 Consistent with this notion, Lohmann (2000, 2003b) argues that the Asabano, an originally animistic tribe from the highlands of Papua New Guinea, only began to have dreams with overtly Christian content after missionaries first introduced Christianity.

Although dreams largely depend on preexisting schemata, the question of why certain schemata but not others are activated during dreaming is an important one for researchers to consider. Related to this issue, there is some research to suggest that during dream cognition an individual’s “preoccupations” or “concerns” are generally more active than more trivial concepts, beliefs, events, or behaviors (Domhoff, 2017). This claim seems plausible and, together with the above notion of conceptual continuity between waking and dreaming, may offer a rudimentary means of doing psychological assessment (see, e.g., Bulkeley, 2009b; Domhoff, 2017); however, it is not so precise as to enable reliable prediction of an individual’s next dream. Indeed, the likelihood of particular schemata undergoing activation during dreaming sleep is a matter that continues to deserve critical inquiry (Schredl, 2003, 2017).

As indicated previously, sensory deprivation goes hand-in-hand with the idea that preexisting schemata are largely responsible for the dreamer’s experience.

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