Sleep and Dreaming Scientific Advances and Reconsiderations

Five leading scientists present papers on the latest findings in sleep and dream research.

How and why does the sleeping brain generate dreams? Though the question is old, a paradigm shift is now occurring in the science of sleep and dreaming that is making room for new answers. From brainstem-based models of sleep cycle control, research is moving toward combined brainstem/forebrain models of sleep cognition itself. The book presents five papers by leading scientists at the center of the current firmament, and more than seventy-five commentaries on those papers by nearly all of the other leading authorities in the field. Topics include mechanisms of dreaming and REM sleep, memory consolidation in REM sleep, and an evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming. The papers and commentaries, together with the authors' rejoinders, represent a huge leap forward in our understanding of the sleeping and dreaming brain. The book's multidisciplinary perspective will appeal to students and researchers in neuroscience, cognitive science, and psychology.

1. Dreaming and the brain: toward a cognitive neuroscience of conscious states J. A. Hobson, E. F. Pace-Schott and R. Stickgold; 2. Dreaming and REM sleep are controlled by different brain mechanisms M. Solms; 3. A review of mentation in REM and NREM sleep: 'covert' REM sleep as a possible reconciliation of two opposing models T. A. Nielsen; 4. The case against memory consolidation in REM sleep R. P. Vertes and K. E. Eastman; 5. The reinterpretation of dreams: an evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming A. Revonsuo; Open peer commentary; Authors' responses; Index.

This book reviews and bridges the gap between the fields of sleep and dreaming as they relate to research. It presents five papers by leading scientists, and more than seventy-five commentaries on those papers by nearly all of the other leading authorities in the field.