NEW FINDINGS ON THE NEUROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION OF DREAMING - IMPLICATIONS FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS

A recent clinico-anatomical study of the dreams of 332 neurological an d neurosurgical patients suggests that the essential psychological pro cesses of dreaming are mediated by higher forebrain structures (inferi or parietal and mediobasal frontal lobes in particular) rather than th e primitive brainstem nuclei which regulate REM sleep. The fundamental neuropsychological mechanisms involved in dreaming appear to be (1) i nhibitory mental control, (2) spatial thought, and (3) quasi-spatial ( symbolic) operations. The essential factor in REM sleep, by contrast, is basic arousal. These neuropsychological findings call into question prevailing theories (based on physiological evidence) of the relation ship between dreaming and REM sleep. Dreams and REM appear to unfold o ver different anatomical structures, and they involve different psycho logical mechanisms. The implications of these findings for psychoanaly sis are discussed in this paper.