| 1. |
- Bergman, Monica, et al.
(författare)
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Dangerous Waters : The Impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on Survivor Dream Content
- 2023
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Ingår i: Dreaming (New York, N.Y.). - : American Psychological Association (APA). - 1053-0797 .- 1573-3351. ; 33:4, s. 369-387
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Episodic memories of emotionally salient and personally significant events are often incorporated into dreams, although rarely replayed identically to the original waking event except in replicative posttraumatic nightmares. We investigated, in five Swedish female 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami survivors, how episodic memories of the catastrophe were reflected in their dreams after trauma, both in retrospectively recalled nightmares and bad dreams, and in prospective dream diaries completed several months after the catastrophe. We also assessed whether the emotional and threatening dream content differed between the trauma and a matched control group. Based on the threat simulation theory, we predicted that the trauma group dreams would portray notable similarities with elements related to the original tsunami trauma, and that the trauma group would demonstrate a higher prevalence of negative emotional states, and a higher frequency of threatening dream events as well as more severe threats in their dreams. Only the first hypothesis was partially supported, with retrospective nightmares bearing higher similarity to the trauma experience than the prospective dream diary dreams. However, we observed no statistically significant differences in emotional or threatening dream content between the groups, suggesting that the trauma group participants were not suffering from significant posttraumatic dreaming at the time of systematic dream data collection. Yet, specific features of the trauma group dreams might be interpreted as remnants of episodic tsunami-related memories: Their dreams had a higher percentage of life-threatening events depicting realistic but improbable threats, and an analysis of water-related themes evidenced stressful themes related to waves.
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| 2. |
- Bergman, Monica, et al.
(författare)
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The Holocaust as a Lifelong Nightmare : Posttraumatic Symptoms and Dream Content in Polish Auschwitz Survivors 30 Years After World War II
- 2020
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Ingår i: American Journal of Psychology. - : University of Illinois Press. - 0002-9556 .- 1939-8298. ; 133:2, s. 143-167
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Posttraumatic symptoms, including nightmares, are more prevalent in World War II survivors than in the general population, but how war experiences have affected subsequent dream content in specific survivor populations remains less explored. In the present study, we used self -reports collected in 1973 from Polish Auschwitz survivors (N = 150; 45 women) to investigate the prevalence of posttraumatic symptoms, classified according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Furthermore, we classified main themes, central emotions, and threatening events in the dreams (N = 632) of the survivors, comparing dreams recalled from before, during, and after the war. Of the respondents, 12.7% described experiencing all diagnostic criteria for PTSD. War-related themes were less common in dreams dreamt before than during the war but were most common after the war. Themes related to family and freedom were most likely to appear in dreams dreamt during than before or after the war. The most often occurring emotion was fear, and dreams from after the war were likely to contain more negative and less positive emotions than dreams dreamt during the war. The likelihoods of reporting threatening events and threats involving aggression were higher in dreams dreamt during than before the war and in dreams dreamt after than during the war. In conclusion, PTSD symptoms were common in Polish Auschwitz survivors 30 years after World War II, and the themes, emotions, and threatening events in their dreams seem to reflect lifelong posttraumatic dreaming. We interpret the results as lending support for the threat simulation theory of dreaming.
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| 3. |
- Blagrove, Mark, et al.
(författare)
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Dream Sharing and the Enhancement of Empathy : Theoretical and Applied Implications
- 2021
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Ingår i: Dreaming (New York, N.Y.). - : American Psychological Association (APA). - 1053-0797 .- 1573-3351. ; 31:2, s. 128-139
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study replicated and extended a previous finding that the discussion of dreams increases the level of empathy toward the dreamer from those with whom the dream is discussed. The study addressed mediating variables for the empathy effect. Participants who already knew each other were recruited in dyads and were assigned dream-sharer and discusser roles. Each dyad used the Ullman dream appreciation technique to explore the relationship of the sharer’s dreams to recent experiences in the sharer’s life, with a maximum of 4 dream discussions per dyad (mean length of dreams = 140.15 words, mean discussion length = 23.72 min). The empathy of each member of a dyad toward the other was assessed using a 12-item state empathy questionnaire. A total of 44 participants (females = 26, males = 18, Mage = 26.70) provided empathy scores at baseline and after each dream discussion. For below median baseline empathy scorers, empathy of discussers toward their dream-sharer increased significantly as a result of the dream discussions, with medium effect size, η² = .39. Dream-sharers had a nonsignificant increase in empathy toward their discusser. Change in empathy was not linear across successive discussions, and was not related to length of dream reports, nor length of discussions. These findings of postsleep, social effects of dreaming, with possibly a group bonding function, go beyond theories of dreaming that have a within-sleep emotional or memory processing function for the individual.
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| 4. |
- Blagrove, Mark, et al.
(författare)
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Testing the Empathy Theory of Dreaming : The Relationships Between Dream Sharing and Trait and State Empathy
- 2019
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-1078. ; 10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In general, dreams are a novel but realistic simulation of waking social life, with a mixture of characters, motivations, scenarios, and positive and negative emotions. We propose that the sharing of dreams has an empathic effect on the dreamer and on significant others who hear and engage with the telling of the dream. Study 1 tests three correlations that are predicted by the theory of dream sharing and empathy: that trait empathy will be correlated with frequency of telling dreams to others, with frequency of listening to others’ dreams, and with trait attitude toward dreams (ATD) (for which higher scores indicate positive attitude). 160 participants completed online the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire and the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire. Pearson partial correlations were conducted, with age and sex partialled out. Trait empathy was found to be significantly associated with the frequency of listening to the dreams of others, frequency of telling one’s own dreams to others, and attitude toward dreams. Study 2 tests the effects of discussing dreams on state empathy, using an adapted version of the Shen (2010) state empathy scale, for 27 pairs of dream sharers and discussers. Dream discussion followed the stages of the Ullman (1996) dream appreciation technique. State empathy of the dream discusser toward the dream sharer was found to increase significantly as a result of the dream discussion, with a medium effect size, whereas the dream sharer had a small decrease in empathy toward the discusser. A proposed mechanism for these associations and effects is taken from the robust findings in the literature that engagement with literary fiction can induce empathy toward others. We suggest that the dream acts as a piece of fiction that can be explored by the dreamer together with other people, and can thus induce empathy about the life circumstances of the dreamer. We discuss the speculation that the story-like characteristics of adult human dreams may have been selected for in human evolution, including in sexual selection, as part of the selection for emotional intelligence, empathy, and social bonding.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Grassini, Simone, et al.
(författare)
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Pattern matters : Snakes exhibiting triangular and diamond-shaped skin patterns modulate electrophysiological activity in human visual cortex
- 2019
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Ingår i: Neuropsychologia. - : Elsevier. - 0028-3932 .- 1873-3514. ; 131, s. 62-72
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The neural and perceptual mechanisms that support the efficient visual detection of snakes in humans are still not fully understood. According to the Snake Detection Theory, selection pressures posed by snakes on early primates have shaped the development of the visual system. Previous studies in humans have investigated early visual electrophysiological activity in response to snake images vs. various alternative dangerous or non-dangerous stimuli. These studies have shown that the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) component is selectively elicited by snake or snake-like images. Recent findings yielded the complementary/alternative hypothesis that early humans (and possibly other primates) evolved an aversion especially for potentially harmful triangular shapes, such as teeth, claws or spikes. In the present study we investigated the effect of triangular and diamond-shaped patterns in snake skins on the ERP correlates of visual processing in humans. In the first experiment, we employed pictures of snakes displaying either triangular/diamond-shaped patterns or no particular pattern on their skins, and pictures of frogs as control. Participants observed a random visual presentation of these pictures. Consistent with previous studies, snakes elicited an enhanced negativity between 225 and 300 ms (EPN) compared to frogs. However, snakes featuring triangular/diamond-shaped patterns on their skin produced an enhanced EPN compared to the snakes that did not display such patterns. In a second experiment we used pictures displaying only skin patterns of snakes and frogs. Results from the second experiment confirmed the results of the first experiment, suggesting that triangular snake-skin patterns modulate the activity in human visual cortex. Taken together, our results constitute an important contribution to the snake detection theory.
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| 7. |
- Grassini, Simone, et al.
(författare)
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Visual features and perceptual context modulate attention towards evolutionarily relevant threatening stimuli : Electrophysiological evidence
- 2019
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Ingår i: Emotion. - : American Psychological Association (APA). - 1528-3542 .- 1931-1516. ; 19:2, s. 348-364
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The snake detection hypothesis claims that predatory pressure from snakes has shaped the primate visual system, but we still know very little about how the brain processes evolutionarily important visual cues, and which factors are crucial for quick detection of snakes. We investigated how visual features modulate the electrophysiological markers of early attentional processes. In Experiment 1, we compared snake, rope, gun, and bird images to isolate the effects due to curvilinearity of the stimuli. The results showed that both snake and rope images elicited enhanced P1 and N1 event-related potential components as well as early posterior negativity (EPN). In Experiment 2, we studied whether nonthreatening curvilinear images (i.e., ropes) still elicit the enhanced electrophysiological responses when snake images are not presented as stimuli, and therefore the context does not provoke top-down attention to curvilinear shapes. Rope images still evoked an enhanced EPN, suggesting that curvilinear shapes are preferably captured by attentional processes. However, this effect was smaller than in Experiment 1, in which snake images were present. Thus, our results hint to the possibility that the perceptual context may interact with processing of shape information, drawing attention to curvilinear shapes when the presence of snakes is expectable. Furthermore, we observed that spatial frequency of the visual stimuli modulated especially the early electrophysiological responses, and decreased the differences between stimulus categories in EPN without completely eliminating them. The findings suggest that low-level and high-level mechanisms interact to give an attentional priority to potentially threatening stimuli.
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| 8. |
- Hess, Timo, et al.
(författare)
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Dissecting the genetic heterogeneity of gastric cancer
- 2023
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Ingår i: EBioMedicine. - : Elsevier. - 2352-3964. ; 92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is clinically heterogenous according to location (cardia/non-cardia) and histopathology (diffuse/intestinal). We aimed to characterize the genetic risk architecture of GC according to its subtypes. Another aim was to examine whether cardia GC and oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) and its precursor lesion Barrett's oesophagus (BO), which are all located at the gastro-oesophageal junction (GOJ), share polygenic risk architecture.Methods: We did a meta-analysis of ten European genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of GC and its subtypes. All patients had a histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma. For the identification of risk genes among GWAS loci we did a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) and expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) study from gastric corpus and antrum mucosa. To test whether cardia GC and OAC/BO share genetic aetiology we also used a European GWAS sample with OAC/BO.Findings: Our GWAS consisting of 5816 patients and 10,999 controls highlights the genetic heterogeneity of GC according to its subtypes. We newly identified two and replicated five GC risk loci, all of them with subtype-specific association. The gastric transcriptome data consisting of 361 corpus and 342 antrum mucosa samples revealed that an upregulated expression of MUC1, ANKRD50, PTGER4, and PSCA are plausible GC-pathomechanisms at four GWAS loci. At another risk locus, we found that the blood-group 0 exerts protective effects for non-cardia and diffuse GC, while blood-group A increases risk for both GC subtypes. Furthermore, our GWAS on cardia GC and OAC/BO (10,279 patients, 16,527 controls) showed that both cancer entities share genetic aetiology at the polygenic level and identified two new risk loci on the single-marker level.Interpretation: Our findings show that the pathophysiology of GC is genetically heterogenous according to location and histopathology. Moreover, our findings point to common molecular mechanisms underlying cardia GC and OAC/BO.
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| 9. |
- Johanson, Mirja, et al.
(författare)
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Alterations in the contents of consciousness in partial epileptic seizures
- 2008
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Ingår i: Epilepsy & Behavior. - : Elsevier. - 1525-5050 .- 1525-5069. ; 13:2, s. 366-371
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Epilepsy research suffers from a deficiency of systematic studies concerning the phenomenology of the contents of consciousness during seizures, partially because of the lack of suitable research methods. The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI), a standardized, valid, and reliable questionnaire, was used here to study which dimensions of the contents of consciousness are distorted during partial epileptic seizures compared with baseline. Further, the similarity of the altered pattern of subjective experiences across recurring seizures was also explored. Our results indicate that patients with epilepsy report alterations on most dimensions of the contents of consciousness in conjunction with seizures, but individual seizure experiences remain similar from one seizure to another. The PCI was found suitable for the assessment of subjective experiences during epileptic seizures and could be a valuable tool in providing new information about phenomenal consciousness in epilepsy in both the research and clinical settings.
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| 10. |
- Johanson, Mirja, et al.
(författare)
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Content analysis of subjective experiences in partial epileptic seizures
- 2008
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Ingår i: Epilepsy & Behavior. - : Elsevier. - 1525-5050 .- 1525-5069. ; 12:1, s. 170-182
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new content analysis method for systematically describing the phenomenology of subjective experiences in connection with partial epileptic seizures is described. Forty patients provided 262 descriptions of subjective experience relative to their partial epileptic seizures. The results revealed that subjective experiences during seizures consist mostly of sensory and bodily sensations, hallucinatory experiences, and thinking. The majority of subjective experiences during seizures are bizarre and distorted; nevertheless, the patients are able to engage in adequate behavior. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study for which detailed subjective seizure descriptions were collected immediately after each seizure and the first study in which the content of verbal reports of subjective experiences during seizures, including both the ictal and postictal experiences, has been analyzed in detail.
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