The DOI matches its Crossref record; 28 of the 29 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The function of dream sleep
Abstract
We propose that the function of dream sleep (more properly rapid-eye movement or REM sleep) is to remove certain undesirable modes of interaction in networks of cells in the cerebral cortex. We postulate that this is done in REM sleep by a reverse learning mechanism (see also p. 158), so that the trace in the brain of the unconscious dream is weakened, rather than strengthened, by the dream.
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“Notably, Francis Crick and Graeme Mitchinson proposed an alternative purpose for dreams in 1983, which they called “reverse learning.”82,83 In this hypothesis, the point of dreaming is somehow to remove “undesirable” connections and help the brain “unlearn.””
From The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization (2021) · cites this paper as [82]
In the citing paper
“Overall, these findings speak against the view posed by Crick and Mitchison (236).”
From About Sleep's Role in Memory (2013) · cites this paper as [236]
Citations
Cites
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The brain as a dream state generator: an activation-synthesis hypothesis of the dream process
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Parallel models of associative memory
Hinton, G. E., & Anderson, J. A. (1981) · CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Cited by 927
Dement, W. (1960) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.131.3415.1705 · Cited by 621
A mathematical theory of visual hallucination patterns
Ermentrout, B., & Cowan, J. D. (1979) · Biological Cybernetics · doi:10.1007/bf00336965 · Cited by 594
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Kohonen, T. (1977) · Communication and Cybernetics · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-96384-1 · Cited by 469
Palm, G. (1982) · Studies of brain function · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-81792-2 · Cited by 457
‘Unlearning’ has a stabilizing effect in collective memories
Hopfield, J. J., Feinstein, D. I., & Palmer, R. G. (1983) · Nature · doi:10.1038/304158a0 · Cited by 420
Neural Assemblies: An Alternative Approach to Artificial Intelligence
Palm, G. (1982) · MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) · Cited by 301
Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 29 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Hobson, J.A., McCarley, R.W. & Nelson, J.P. J. Neurophysiol. (in the press).
- Allison, T. & Van Twyver, H. Nat. Hist. 79, 56–65 (1970).
- Klein, M., Michel, F. & Jouvet, M. C.r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris 158, 99–103 (1964).
- Jouvet, M. Archs. ital. Biol. 100, 125–206 (1962).
- Dewan, E.M. in Sleep and Dreaming (ed. Hartmann, E.) 295–307 (Little-Brown, Boston, 1970).
- Hobson, J.A. in Brain Mechanisms and Perceptual Awareness (eds Pompeiano, O. & Marsan, C. A.) 379–404 (Raven, New York, 1981).
- Dement, W. in Academy of Psychoanalysis: Science and Psychoanalysis Vol. 7 (ed. Masserman, J.) 129–184 (Grune and Stratton, New York, 1964).
- Griffiths, M. The Biology of Monotremes (Academic, New York, 1978).
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2010) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2762 · Cited by 3,760
Thalamocortical oscillations in the sleeping and aroused brain
Steriade, M., McCormick, D. A., & Sejnowski, T. J. (1993) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.8235588 · Cited by 3,564
Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2013) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00032.2012 · Cited by 2,783
The Neurobiology of Consolidations, Or, How Stable is the Engram?
Dudai, Y. (2004) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142050 · Cited by 1,671
Connectionist learning procedures
Hinton, G. E. (1989) · Artificial Intelligence · doi:10.1016/0004-3702(89)90049-0 · Cited by 1,505
Metadata
- Authors
- Crick, F., & Mitchison, G.
- Affiliations
- Salk Institute for Biological Studies (US)
- ORCID
- Mitchison, Graeme
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 1983-07
- Volume
- 304
- Issue
- 5922
- Pages
- 111-114
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2044707217
- Cited by
- 865
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 34 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 27
- FWCI
- 18.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Profiles in Science (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- REM sleep, dream function, cerebral cortex, neural network interactions, reverse learning
- MeSH terms
- Cerebral Cortex, Dreams, Humans, Models, Psychological, Neurons, Sleep, REM, Synapses
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