ABSTRACT
Dreams are the via regia to the unconscious, so they take on a key role in psychoanalysis. Psychologically, dreams can be characterized by extreme spontaneity, abnormally distorted contents of the external environment, and an unusual sense of self that can sometimes be detached from one’s own body. Biochemically, various subcortical transmitter systems are shifting their balances (acetylcholine, serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, etc.) during dream states, while neuronally, the spatial topographic balance is shifted towards the default-mode network and the medial temporal and visual cortex at the expense of the central executive network with the lateral prefrontal cortex. This goes along with a shift from faster to slower frequencies in the dynamic spectrum. Building on and extending these findings, I postulate a topographic-dynamic reorganization theory of dreams (TRoD). The TRoD assumes that dreams can be characterized by a transient topographic and dynamic reorganization of both brain (towards DMN and visual cortex and towards slower frequencies) and psyche. The psyche’s nested hierarchies of both conscious–unconscious and self/ego are reorganized by more or less corresponding topographic and dynamic features as they occur on the neuronal level of the brain. This is explicated for key features of dreams, including different forms of internally oriented cognition, the different layers of self, and the occurrence of hallucinations within an altered spatiotemporal reference frame. I conclude that spatial-topographic and temporal-dynamic features are shared by both brain and psyche during dreams, as postulated in the TRoD.
