Abstract
People across most of the history of humanity have thought of dreams as important guides to behavior or important sources of information that can be used in making decisions. This may be due to the fact that dreams involve a very distinct form of information processing, one marked by bihemispheric integration without anterior-posterior integration. REM sleep, which is never unihemispheric, might play a role in memory consolidation and learning, suggesting that species with greater cognitive abilities of a certain sort would require more REM sleep. In addition, Costly Signaling Theory (CST) may provide insights into why dreams have distinct cognitive specializations. CST examines communication between individuals with conflicting interests. Given that honest and costly signals have evolved in countless species, similar behavioral and structural strategies are probably present in humans as well. If dreams are a source of costly, hard-to-fake signals, including emotional signals, and such signals are crucial in producing and maintaining the reliability and honesty of systems of communication among human beings, then the dream becomes a source of unity and cohesion for groups whose members depend on each other for care and support.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Perchance to Dream |
| Subtitle of host publication | The Frontiers of Dream Psychology |
| Publisher | Nova Science Publishers, Inc. |
| Pages | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781608761234 |
| State | Published - Dec 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |