A systems approach to self‐organization in the dreaming brain

Abstract

This systems model of dreaming consciousness examines the self‐organizing properties of the sleeping brain, offering a step towards reconciling brain‐based and content‐based attempts to understand the nature of dreaming. The brain can be understood as a complex self‐organizing system that, in dreaming, responds to subtle influences such as residual feelings and memories. The hyper‐responsiveness of the brain during dreaming is viewed in terms of the tendency of complex chaotic‐like systems to respond to small variations in initial conditions and to the amplification of subtle emotional and cognitive signals through the mechanism of stochastic resonance, all in combination with psychophysiological changes in the brain during both slow wave and rapid eye movement (REM) dreaming. These changes include the active inhibition of extroceptive stimulation and, especially in REM sleep, alterations in the brain's dominant neuromodulatory systems, bombardment of the visual cortex with bursts of PGO activity, increases in limbic system activity, and a reduction of activity in the prefrontal regions.

Citation

Krippner, S. and Combs, A. (2002), "A systems approach to self‐organization in the dreaming brain", Kybernetes, Vol. 31 No. 9/10, pp. 1452-1462. https://doi.org/10.1108/03684920210443653