ABSTRACT
Dreaming is characterized by formal visual imagery (akin to hallucination), by inconstancy
of time, place, and person (akin to disorientation), by a scenario-like knitting together
of disparate elements (akin to confabulation), and by an inability to recall (akin
to amnesia). Taken together, these four dream features are similar to the delirium
of organic brain disease. By studying the brain during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep-the
phase of sleep in which most dreaming occurs-we can begin to understand its basis
in the altered neurophysiology of REM.
Keywords
dreaming - delirium - REM sleep - model psychosis - chemical imbalance
