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Beware of being captured by an analogy: Dreams are like many things

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2013

Matthew Hugh Erdelyi
Matthew Hugh Erdelyi*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY), Brooklyn, NY 11210-2889. erdelyi@brooklyn.cuny.edu
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Abstract

Classic traditions have linked dreams to memory (e.g., “dreaming is another kind of remembering” [Freud 1918/1955]) and modern notions like implicit memory subsume dreaming by definition. Llewellyn develops the more specific thesis that rapid eye movement (REM) dreams, because of their similarities to mnemonic techniques, have the function of elaboratively encoding episodic memories. This proposal is premature, requiring exigent testing. Other analogs of dreams, for example, jokes, do not invoke function but do contribute to dream science.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 617 - 618
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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