Revonsuo A
Department of Philosophy, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Turku, Turku, FIN-20014, Finland.
Behav Brain Sci. 2000 Dec;23(6):877-901; discussion 904-1121. doi: 10.1017/s0140525x00004015.
Several theories claim that dreaming is a random by-product of REM sleep physiology and that it does not serve any natural function. Phenomenal dream content, however, is not as disorganized as such views imply. The form and content of dreams is not random but organized and selective: during dreaming, the brain constructs a complex model of the world in which certain types of elements, when compared to waking life, are underrepresented whereas others are over represented. Furthermore, dream content is consistently and powerfully modulated by certain types of waking experiences. On the basis of this evidence, I put forward the hypothesis that the biological function of dreaming is to simulate threatening events, and to rehearse threat perception and threat avoidance. To evaluate this hypothesis, we need to consider the original evolutionary context of dreaming and the possible traces it has left in the dream content of the present human population. In the ancestral environment human life was short and full of threats. Any behavioral advantage in dealing with highly dangerous events would have increased the probability of reproductive success. A dream-production mechanism that tends to select threatening waking events and simulate them over and over again in various combinations would have been valuable for the development and maintenance of threat-avoidance skills. Empirical evidence from normative dream content, children's dreams, recurrent dreams, nightmares, post traumatic dreams, and the dreams of hunter-gatherers indicates that our dream-production mechanisms are in fact specialized in the simulation of threatening events, and thus provides support to the threat simulation hypothesis of the function of dreaming.
有几种理论认为，做梦是快速眼动睡眠生理的随机副产品，不具备任何自然功能。然而，梦境的内容并非像这些观点所暗示的那样杂乱无章。梦的形式和内容并非随机，而是有组织且具选择性的：在做梦过程中，大脑构建了一个复杂的世界模型，与清醒生活相比，其中某些类型的元素呈现不足，而其他元素则呈现过度。此外，梦的内容会受到某些类型的清醒经历持续且强烈的调节。基于这一证据，我提出一个假设，即做梦的生物学功能是模拟威胁事件，并演练威胁感知和威胁规避。为了评估这一假设，我们需要考虑做梦最初的进化背景以及它可能在现代人类梦境内容中留下的痕迹。在祖先环境中，人类寿命短暂且充满威胁。在应对高度危险事件时的任何行为优势都将增加生殖成功的概率。一种倾向于选择威胁性清醒事件并以各种组合反复模拟它们的梦产生机制，对于威胁规避技能的发展和维持将是有价值的。来自正常梦境内容、儿童梦境、反复出现的梦境、噩梦、创伤后梦境以及狩猎采集者梦境的实证证据表明，我们的梦产生机制实际上专门用于模拟威胁事件，从而为做梦功能的威胁模拟假设提供了支持。
