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The reinterpretation of dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming

Revonsuo, Antti·2000·Behavioral and Brain Sciences

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Abstract

Several theories claim that dreaming is a random by-product of REM sleep physiology and that it does not serve any natural function. Phenomenal dream content, however, is not as disorganized as such views imply. The form and content of dreams is not random but organized and selective: during dreaming, the brain constructs a complex model of the world in which certain types of elements, when compared to waking life, are underrepresented whereas others are over represented. Furthermore, dream content is consistently and powerfully modulated by certain types of waking experiences. On the basis of this evidence, I put forward the hypothesis that the biological function of dreaming is to simulate threatening events, and to rehearse threat perception and threat avoidance. To evaluate this hypothesis, we need to consider the original evolutionary context of dreaming and the possible traces it has left in the dream content of the present human population. In the ancestral environment human life was short and full of threats. Any behavioral advantage in dealing with highly dangerous events would have increased the probability of reproductive success. A dream-production mechanism that tends to select threatening waking events and simulate them over and over again in various combinations would have been valuable for the development and maintenance of threat-avoidance skills. Empirical evidence from normative dream content, children's dreams, recurrent dreams, nightmares, post traumatic dreams, and the dreams of hunter-gatherers indicates that our dream-production mechanisms are in fact specialized in the simulation of threatening events, and thus provides support to the threat simulation hypothesis of the function of dreaming.

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Authors: Revonsuo, A.
Affiliations: University of Turku (FI)
Corresponding author: Revonsuo, Antti
ORCID: Revonsuo, Antti
Venue: Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published: 2000-12
Volume: 23
Issue: 6
Pages: 877-901
ISSN: 0140-525X (ISSN-L)
1469-1825
DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x00004015
OpenAlex: W2110375253
Cited by: 676
References: 1,410
Citations by year: 2026: 22 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 38 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 20
FWCI: 3.19
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 294 d)
Locations: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics: Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Keywords: evolutionary hypothesis, REM sleep, dream content, threat avoidance, threat perception, nightmares, children's dreams
MeSH terms: Animals, Arousal, Brain, Dreams, Biological Evolution, Fear, Humans, Learning, Problem Solving, Psychophysiology, Wakefulness

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The reinterpretation of dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming

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