Threat Simulation- The Function of Dreaming?

Dreaming is a pure form of phenomenality, created by the brain untouched by external stimulation or behavioral activity, yet including a full range of phenomenal contents. Thus, it has been suggested that the dreaming brain could be used as a model system in a biological research program on consciousness (Revonsuo, 2006). In the present thesis, the philosophical view of biological realism is accepted, and thus, dreaming is considered as a natural biological phenomenon, explainable in naturalistic terms. The major theoretical contribution of the present thesis is that it explores dreaming from a multidisciplinary perspective, integrating information from various fields of science, such as dream research, consciousness research, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Further, it places dreaming into a multilevel framework, and investigates the constitutive, etiological, and contextual explanations for dreaming. Currently, the only theory offering a full multilevel explanation for dreaming, that is, a theory including constitutive, etiological, and contextual level explanations, is the Threat Simulation Theory (TST) (Revonsuo, 2000a; 2000b). The empirical significance of the present thesis lies in the tests conducted to test this specific theory put forth to explain the form, content, and biological function of dreaming. The first step in the empirical testing of the TST was to define exact criteria for what is a ‘threatening event’ in dreams, and then to develop a detailed and reliable content analysis scale with which it is possible to empirically explore and quantify threatening events in dreams. The second step was to seek answers to the following questions derived from the TST: How frequent threatening events are in dreams? What kind of qualities these events have? How threatening events in dreams relate to the most recently encoded or the most salient memory traces of threatening events experienced in waking life? What are the effects of exposure to severe waking life threat on dreams? The results reveal that threatening events are relatively frequent in dreams, and that the simulated threats are realistic. The most common threats include aggression, are targeted mainly against the dream self, and include simulations of relevant and appropriate defensive actions. Further, real threat experiences activate the threat simulation system in a unique manner, and dream content is modulated by the activation of long term episodic memory traces with highest negative saliency. To sum up, most of the predictions of the TST tested in this thesis received considerable support. The TST presents a strong argument that explains the specific design of dreams as threat simulations. The TST also offers a plausible explanation for why dreaming would have been selected for: because dreaming interacted with the environment in such a way that enhanced fitness of ancestral humans. By referring to a single threat simulation mechanism it furthermore manages to explain a wide variety of dream content data that already exists in the literature, and to predict the overall statistical patterns of threat content in different samples of dreams. The TST and the empirical tests conducted to test the theory are a prime example of what a multidisciplinary approach to mental phenomena can accomplish. Thus far, dreaming seems to have always resided in the periphery of science, never regarded worth to be studied by the mainstream. Nevertheless, when brought to the spotlight, the study of dreaming can greatly benefit from ideas in diverse branches of science. Vice versa, knowledge learned from the study of dreaming can be applied in various disciplines. The main contribution of the present thesis lies in putting dreaming back where it belongs, that is, into the spotlight in the cross-road of various disciplines.Siirretty Doriast

Perheen merkitys nuoren tupakoinnin aloittamiseen : Tupakkakysely yläkoulun 9. luokkalaisille

Terveydenhoitajan rooli nuorten tupakoimattomuuden edistämisessä on merkittävä. Terveydenhoitajan tulee huomioida nuoren terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin tukemisessa nuoren itsensä lisäksi myös koko perhe. Vanhempien roolin merkityksen esille tuominen nuorten tupakoimattomuuden edistämisessä on tärkeää. Opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena on selvittää 9. luokkalaisten tupakointia ja perheiden merkitystä sen aloittamisessa ja ennaltaehkäisyssä. Tavoitteena on, että saaduilla tiedoilla terveydenhoitaja osaisi neuvoa, ohjata ja kannustaa nuoria ja heidän perheitään tupakoimattomuuteen. Opinnäytetyö kuuluu Etelä-Pohjanmaan korkeakouluyhdistyksen professori Leena Koivusillan Lasten ja nuorten terveyden edistämisen -tutkimushankkeeseen ja on osana terveyden eriarvoisuus - teemaa. Eriarvoisuuteen liittyen työssä käsiteltiin nuorten tupakointia sekä siihen liittyviä tekijöitä ja näin ollen selvitettiin eriarvoisuuden esiintymistä nuorten keskuudessa. Työssä haluttiin selvittää perheiden tupakkatottumuksia ja tupakointiin liittyviä asenteita sekä niiden merkitystä nuorten tupakoinnin aloittamiseen. Opinnäytetyössä tehtiin kysely Alavuden yläkoulun 9. luokkalaisille oppilaille. Opinnäytetyön kyselyn perusteella Alavuden 9. luokkalaisten keskuudessa tupakkakokeilut olivat yleisiä, lähes puolet nuorista oli kokeillut tupakointia. Kuitenkin nykyisin tupakoivia ja päivittäin tupakoivia oli huomattavasti vähemmän verrattuna tupakointia kokeilleiden määrään. Niiden nuorten keskuudessa, jotka tupakoivat, vanhempienkin tupakointi oli yleisempää kuin ei tupakoivien keskuudessa. Tupakoivien nuorten kohdalla myös heidän sisaruksiensa tupakointi oli hyvin yleistä. Vanhempien asenne tupakoivien nuorten tupakointia kohtaan oli osaksi myönteistä, sillä lähes puolet vanhemmista hyväksyi oman nuorensa tupakoinnin.Public health nurses’ role in preventing adolescents’ cigarette smoking is significant. Public health nurses must consider also adolescents’ whole family in supporting their health and wellbeing. It is important to bring out the parents’ role in the prevention of young people’s smoking. The purpose of this thesis is to unravel the smoking habits of 9th graders and sort out their families’ role in prevention. Our aim is, with the information gathered to this thesis, to help public health nurses’ abilities to provide advice, guide and encourage young people and their families not to smoke. This thesis is a part of Professor Leena Koivusilta's research project to promote youth health and also a part of health inequality theme. Regarding inequality, in this thesis we discuss adolescents’ smoking and factors related to it in order to discover the occurrence of inequality among young people. In addition, we wanted to find out families’ smoking habits and attitudes regarding smoking and the risks for adolescents to start smoking. In this thesis we made a survey to the 9th grade students of the city of Alavus. As a conclusion, it seems that smoking experiments were common for the 9th graders of the city of Alavus. Almost half of the adolescents tried smoking. However, the ones smoking currently and especially those who smoke daily were significantly fewer than the ones who had tried smoking. Among those adolescents who smoked, parents’ smoking was more common than with in the non-smokers. In the case of smoking adolescents, also their siblings’ smoking was very common. Parents’ attitude towards their adolescents’ smoking was partly positive, as almost half of the parents whose offspring was smoking, approved it

The simulation theories of dreaming : how to make theoretical progress in dream science ; a reply to Martin Dresler

Among the most pressing challenges for dream science is the difficulty of establishing theoretical unification between the various theories, ideas, and findings that have been presented in the literature to answer the question of how it is possible to construct a solid scientific theory with predictive and explanatory power in dream science. We suggest that the concept of “world-simulation” serves as the core concept for a theoretically unified paradigm to describe and explain dreaming. From this general concept, more specific theories of the function of dreaming can be derived, such as the Threat Simulation Theory (TST) and the Social Simulation Theory (SST), as we argued in our target article. We agree with Dresler that these two functions may not be the only functions of dreaming, but we still have grounds to believe that they are the strongest contenders. In our reply we first clarify why the functions of sleep should be considered separately from the functions of dreaming. Second, we outline what a good scientific theory of dreaming should be like and what it should be capable of. Furthermore, we evaluate the current state of simulation theories within this context. To conclude, we propose that instead of a general multifunctional theory of sleep and dreaming, where no hypothesis is excluded, the future progress of dream science will benefit more from opposing, competing and mutually exclusive theories about the specific functions of dreaming. This, however, demands that the opposing theories and their predictions must be risky, clearly formulated, and empirically testable

The avatars in the machine : dreaming as a simulation of social reality

The idea that dreaming is a simulation of the waking world is currently becoming a far more widely shared and accepted view among dream researchers. Several philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists have recently characterized dreaming in terms of virtual reality, immersive spatiotemporal simulation, or realistic and useful world simulation. Thus, the conception of dreaming as a simulated world now unifies definitions of the basic nature of dreaming within dream and consciousness research. This novel concept of dreaming has consequently led to the idea that social interactions in dreams, known to be a universal and abundant feature of human dream content, can best be characterized as a simulation of human social reality, simulating the social skills, bonds, interactions, and networks that we engage in during our waking lives. Yet this tempting idea has never before been formulated into a clear and empirically testable theory of dreaming. Here we show that a testable Social Simulation Theory (SST) of dreaming can be formulated, from which empirical predictions can be derived. Some of the predictions can gain initial support by relying on already existing data in the literature, but many more remain to be tested by further research. We argue that the SST should be tested by directly contrasting its predictions with the major competing theories on the nature and function of dreaming, such as the Continuity Hypothesis (CH) and the Threat Simulation Theory (TST). These three major theories of dreaming make differing predictions as to the quality and the quantity of social simulations in dreams. We will outline the first steps towards a theory-and-hypothesis-driven research program in dream research that treats dreaming as a simulated world in general and as a social simulation in particular. By following this research program it will be possible to find out whether dreaming is a relatively unselective and thus probably non-functional simulation of the waking world (CH), a simulation primarily specialized in the simulation of dangerous and threatening events that present important challenges for our survival and prosperity (TST), or whether it is a simulation primarily specialized in training the social skills and bonds most important for us humans as a social species (SST). Whatever the evidence for or against the specific theories turn out to be, in any case the conception of dreaming as a simulated world has already proved to be a fruitful theoretical approach to understanding the nature of dreaming and consciousness

Nightmares as predictors of suicide : an extension study including war veterans

Nightmares are intensive dreams with negative emotional tone. Frequent nightmares can pose a serious clinical problem and in 2001, Tanskanen et al. found that nightmares increase the risk of suicide. However, the dataset used by these authors included war veterans in whom nightmare frequency -and possibly also suicide risk -is elevated. Therefore, re-examination of the association between nightmares and suicide in these data is warranted. We investigated the relationship between nightmares and suicide both in the general population and war veterans in Finnish National FINRISK Study from the years 1972 to 2012, a dataset overlapping with the one used in the study by Tanskanen et al. Our data comprise 71,068 participants of whom 3139 are war veterans. Participants were followed from their survey participation until the end of 2014 or death. Suicides (N = 398) were identified from the National Causes of Death Register. Frequent nightmares increase the risk of suicide: The result of Tanskanen et al. holds even when war experiences are controlled for. Actually nightmares are not significantly associated with suicides among war veterans. These results support the role of nightmares as an independent risk factor for suicide instead of just being proxy for history of traumatic experiences.Peer reviewe

Framtidens kommun – sakkunniggruppens promemoria om vård- och landskapsreformens konsekvenser för kommunerna

Framtidens kommun är en av reformerna i regeringsprogrammet för statsminister Juha Sipiläs regering. Syftet med reformen är att definiera kommunernas roll, ställning och uppgifter samt förhållandet till landskapen som inleder sin verksamhet vid ingången av 2019. Finansministeriet tillsatte i december en parlamentarisk arbetsgrupp och en sakkunniggrupp med mandatperioderna 1.1.2016 - 31.3.2019 för genomföringen av reformen Framtidens kommun. Den parlamentariska arbetsgruppen ska bereda en vision om framtidens kommun 2030 och definiera kommunernas roll och uppgifter och ställning i förhållande till de nya landskapen. Sakkunniggruppen ska bereda lagstiftningsförslagen till regeringspropositioner. I denna promemoria har sakkunniggruppen granskat social- och hälsovårds- och landskapsreformens konsekvenser för kommunern

How You Measure Is What You Get: Differences in Self- and External Ratings of Emotional Experiences in Home Dreams

This study demonstrates that different methods for measuring emotional experiences indreams — self-ratings of dreams using emotion rating scales versus external ratings in the formof content analysis of narrative dream reports — can lead to strikingly different results andcontradicting conclusions about the emotional content of home dreams. During 3 consecutiveweeks, every morning upon awakening, 44 participants (16 men, 28 women, average age 26.9± 5.1 years) reported their dreams and rated their emotional experiences in those dreams usingthe modified Differential Emotions Scale. Two external judges rated emotional experiences inthe same 552 (M= 12.55 ± 5.72) home dream reports using the same scale. Comparison ofthe 2 methods showed that with self-ratings dreams were rated as more emotional and morepositive than with external ratings. Moreover, whereas with self-ratings the majority of dreamswas rated as positively valenced, with external ratings the majority of dream reports was ratedas negatively valenced. Although self- and external ratings converge, at least partially, in themeasurement of negative emotional experiences, they diverge greatly in the measurement ofpositive emotional experiences. On one hand, this discrepancy may result from different biasesinherent in the 2 measurement methods highlighting the need to develop better methods formeasuring emotional experiences. On the other hand, self- and external ratings may capturedifferent phenomena and should thus be considered complementary and used concurrently.Nevertheless, results suggest that negative emotional experiences can be measured in a morevalid and reliable manner than positive emotional experiences.</p

The dynamics of affect across the wake-sleep cycle: From waking mind-wandering to night-time dreaming

Affective experiences occur across the wake-sleep cycle—from active wakefulness to resting wakefulness (i.e., mind-wandering) to sleep (i.e., dreaming). Yet, we know little about the dynamics of affect across these states. We compared the affective ratings of waking, mind-wandering, and dream episodes. Results showed that mind-wandering was more positively valenced than dreaming, and that both mind-wandering and dreaming were more negatively valenced than active wakefulness. We also compared participants’ self-ratings of affect with external ratings of affect (i.e., analysis of affect in verbal reports). With self-ratings all episodes were predominated by positive affect. However, the affective valence of reports changed from positively valenced waking reports to affectively balanced mind-wandering reports to negatively valenced dream reports. These findings show that (1) the positivity bias characteristic to waking experiences decreases across the wake-sleep continuum, and (2) conclusions regarding affective experiences depend on whether self-ratings or verbal reports describing these experiences are analysed.</p

EEG Frontal Alpha Asymmetry and Dream Affect: Alpha Oscillations over the Right Frontal Cortex during REM Sleep and Presleep Wakefulness Predict Angerin REM Sleep Dreams

Affective experiences are central not only to our waking life but also to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep dreams. Despite our increasing understanding of the neural correlates of dreaming, we know little about the neural correlates of dream affect. Frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) is considered a marker of affective states and traits as well as affect regulation in the waking state. Here, we explored whether FAA during REM sleep and during evening resting wakefulness is related to affective experiences in REM sleep dreams. EEG recordings were obtained from 17 human participants (7men) who spent 2 nights in the sleep laboratory. Participants were awakened 5minafter the onset of every REM stage after which they provided a dream report and rated their dream affect. Two-minute preawakening EEG segments were analyzed. Additionally, 8 min of evening presleep and morning postsleep EEG were recorded during resting wakefulness. Mean spectral power in the alpha band (8 –13 Hz) and corresponding FAA were calculated over the frontal (F4-F3) sites. Results showed that FAA during REM sleep, and during evening resting wakefulness, predicted ratings of dream anger. This suggests that individuals with greater alpha power in the right frontal hemisphere may be less able to regulate (i.e., inhibit) strong affective states, such as anger, in dreams. Additionally, FAA was positively correlated across wakefulness and REM sleep. Together, these findings imply that FAA may serve as a neural correlate of affect regulation not only in the waking but also in the dreaming state.</p

Social contents in dreams: An empirical test of the Social Simulation Theory

Social Simulation Theory (SST) considers the function of dreaming to be the simulation of social events. The Sociality Bias and the Strengthening hypotheses of SST were tested. Social Content Scale (SCS) was developed to quantify social events. Additionally, we attempted to replicate a previous finding (McNamara et al., 2005, Psychological Science) of REM dreams as predisposed to aggressive , and NREM dreams to prosocial interactions. Further, we investigated the frequency and quality of interactions in late vs early REM and NREM dreams. Data consisted of wake, REM and NREM home dream reports (N = 232, 116, 116, respectively) from 15 students. Dreams overrepresented social events compared to wake reports, supporting the Sociality Bias hypothesis. However, the Strengthening Hypothesis was not supported. We weren't able to replicate the McNamara et al. finding, and no time of night effect was found. While SST gained partial support, further research on social contents in dreams is required .</p