David Kahn received his PhD in Physics from Yale University. He is currently on the faculty of Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry, Boston, MA, engaged in research to help develop a neuropsychology of dreaming that can be used as a basis for a brain-based theory of psychiatry.
The study of dreams and its underlying neurophysiological mechanisms can provide important insigh... more The study of dreams and its underlying neurophysiological mechanisms can provide important insights into how changes in the brain can account for changes in the conscious experience of waking and sleep. The study of the brain basis of dreaming is an important herald of what needs to be done to understand hypnosis at the level of the brain. In this paper we point out similarities and differences between sleep, dreaming and hypnosis but our main emphasis will be on the new science of dreaming. The mental and emotional output of the brain during REM sleep differ considerably from the output of the brain during waking. To get at this difference we assess and measure what we call the formal properties of the mental content of the states waking and REM sleep (as well as sleep onset). In this way we attempt to articulate the distinguishing universal characteristics of dreaming as against the individual content of dreams. We are thus able to compare human brain regional activation Dreaming ...
International Review of Neurobiology - INT REV NEUROBIOL, 2010
This chapter argues that dreaming is an important state of consciousness and that it has many fea... more This chapter argues that dreaming is an important state of consciousness and that it has many features that complement consciousness in the wake state. The chapter discusses consciousness in dreams and how it comes about. It discusses the changes that occur in the neuromodulatory environment and in the neuronal connectivity of the brain as we fall asleep and begin our night journeys. Dreams evolve from internal sources though the dream may look different than any one of these since something entirely new may emerge through self-organizing processes. The chapter also explores characteristics of dreaming consciousness such as acceptance of implausibility and how that might lead to creative insight. Examples of studies, which have shown creativity in dream sleep, are provided to illustrate important characteristics of dreaming consciousness. The chapter also discusses the dream body and how it relates to our consciousness while dreaming. Differences and similarities between wake, lucid...
Dream thought is both impoverished and non-logical. While some inferential reasoning is present i... more Dream thought is both impoverished and non-logical. While some inferential reasoning is present in dreaming, many illogicalities that would demand cognitive attention during waking go unnoticed during sleep. The physiological basis of this illogicality may include frontal lobe inactivation and amionergic demodulation.
The study of dreams and its underlying neurophysiological mechanisms can provide important insigh... more The study of dreams and its underlying neurophysiological mechanisms can provide important insights into how changes in the brain can account for changes in the conscious experience of waking and sleep. The study of the brain basis of dreaming is an important herald of what needs to be done to understand hypnosis at the level of the brain. In this paper we point out similarities and differences between sleep, dreaming and hypnosis but our main emphasis will be on the new science of dreaming. The mental and emotional output of the brain during REM sleep differ considerably from the output of the brain during waking. To get at this difference we assess and measure what we call the formal properties of the mental content of the states waking and REM sleep (as well as sleep onset). In this way we attempt to articulate the distinguishing universal characteristics of dreaming as against the individual content of dreams. We are thus able to compare human brain regional activation Dreaming ...
International Review of Neurobiology - INT REV NEUROBIOL, 2010
This chapter argues that dreaming is an important state of consciousness and that it has many fea... more This chapter argues that dreaming is an important state of consciousness and that it has many features that complement consciousness in the wake state. The chapter discusses consciousness in dreams and how it comes about. It discusses the changes that occur in the neuromodulatory environment and in the neuronal connectivity of the brain as we fall asleep and begin our night journeys. Dreams evolve from internal sources though the dream may look different than any one of these since something entirely new may emerge through self-organizing processes. The chapter also explores characteristics of dreaming consciousness such as acceptance of implausibility and how that might lead to creative insight. Examples of studies, which have shown creativity in dream sleep, are provided to illustrate important characteristics of dreaming consciousness. The chapter also discusses the dream body and how it relates to our consciousness while dreaming. Differences and similarities between wake, lucid...
Dream thought is both impoverished and non-logical. While some inferential reasoning is present i... more Dream thought is both impoverished and non-logical. While some inferential reasoning is present in dreaming, many illogicalities that would demand cognitive attention during waking go unnoticed during sleep. The physiological basis of this illogicality may include frontal lobe inactivation and amionergic demodulation.
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Papers by David Kahn