| 1. |
- 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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| 2. |
- 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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| 3. |
- Noreika, Valdas, et al.
(författare)
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Early-night serial awakenings as a new paradigm for studies on NREM dreaming
- 2009
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Ingår i: International Journal of Psychophysiology. - : Elsevier. - 0167-8760 .- 1872-7697. ; 74:1, s. 14-18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new experimental paradigm called "Early-Night Serial Awakenings" (ENSA) was explored to find out its strengths and weaknesses for psychophysiological studies of NREM sleep dreaming. Five participants spent 20 experimental nights in the sleep laboratory, and were serially awakened with approximately 24-minute intervals during Stages 2 and 3 of NREM sleep. As a total, 164 awakenings were conducted during the sessions that lasted on average 193 min. Altogether, 30% of NREM sleep awakenings led to dream reports, 39% to reports of white dreaming, and 31% to reports of dreamless sleep. Results also show that sleep EEG spectral power, dream recall frequency as well as dream complexity remained stable throughout the serial awakening sessions. We conclude that, as ENSA dreams appeared to be static and very limited in content, the paradigm we identified could be used in future studies to reveal the psychophysiological mechanisms of relatively simple forms of early-night NREM sleep dreaming. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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| 4. |
- Revonsuo, Antti, et al.
(författare)
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How to test the threat-simulation theory
- 2008
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Ingår i: Consciousness and Cognition. - : Elsevier. - 1053-8100 .- 1090-2376. ; 17:4, s. 1292-1296
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Malcolm-Smith, Solms, Turnbull and Treduoux (Malcolm-Smith, S., Solms, M., Turnbull, O., & Tredoux, C. (2008). Threat in dreams; An adaptiation? Consciousness and Cognition, 17, 1281-1291.) have made an attempt to test the Threat-Simulation Theory (TST), a theory offering an evolutionary psychological explanation for the function of dreaming (Revonsuo, A. (2000a). The reinterpretation of dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 23(6), 877-901). Malcolm-Smith et al. argue that empirical evidence from their own study as well as from some other studies in the literature does not support the main predictions of the TST: that threatening events are frequent and overrepresented in dreams, that exposure to real threats activates the threat-simulation system, and that dream threats contain realistic rehearsals of threat avoidance responses. Other studies, including or own, have come up with results and conclusions that are in conflict with those of Malcolm-Smith et al. In this commentary, we provide an analysis of the sources of these disagreements, and their implications to the TST. Much of the disagreement seems to stem from differing interpretations of the theory and, consequently, of differing methods to test it.
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| 5. |
- Valli, Katja, et al.
(författare)
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A Test of the Threat Simulation Theory : Replication of Results and Independent Sample
- 2007
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Ingår i: Sleep and Hypnosis: A Journal of Clinical Neuroscience and Psychopathology. - : Yerküre Tanitim ve Yayincilik A.S. - 1302-1192. ; 9:1, s. 30-46
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Threat Simulation Theory (TST) postulates that dreaming evolved as a mental simulation for the rehearsal of the neurocognitive mechanisms essential for threat recognition and avoidance behaviors. In the present study, we tested the predictions of the TST that dreams are specialized in the frequent simulation of realistic and severe threatening events targeted against the dream self, and that the dream self is likely to take appropriate defensive actions against the threat. The subjects were 50 Swedish university students who kept home-based dream diaries for a period of two or four weeks. The dreams were analyzed with a content analysis method specifically designed for identifying and classifying threatening events in dreams, the Dream Threat Scale. Our results show that in the dreams of ordinary young adults threatening events are frequent, severe, realistic and targeted against the self and significant others. Appropriate defensive actions are frequently undertaken when the situation allows active participation. The present study replicates earlier findings but in an independent sample, collected in a different country and language area, and analyzed by judges different from the original study. Our findings thus offer further support for the predictions of the TST
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| 6. |
- Valli, Katja, et al.
(författare)
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Dreams are more negative than real life : Implicaitons for the function of dreaming
- 2008
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Ingår i: Cognition & Emotion. - : Psychology Press. - 0269-9931 .- 1464-0600. ; 22:5, s. 833-861
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dream content studies have revealed that dream experiences are negatively biased; negative dream contents are more frequent than corresponding positive dream contents. It is unclear, however, whether the bias is real or due to biased sampling, i.e., selective memory for intense negative emotions. The threat simulation theory (TST) claims that the negativity bias is real and reflects the evolved biolgical function of dreaming. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis of the TST that threatening events are overrepresented in dreams, i.e., more frequent and more severe in dreams than in real life. To control for biased sampling, we used as a baseline the corresponding negative events in real life rather than the corresponding positive events in dreams. We collected dream reports (N = 419) and daily event logs (N = 490) from 39 university students during a two-week period, and interviewed them about real threat experiences retrievable from autobiographical memory (N = 714). Threat experiences proved to be much more frequent and severe in dreams than in real life, and Current Dream Threats more closely resembled Past than Current Real Threats. we conclude that the TST´s predictions hold, and that the negativity bias is real.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Valli, Katja, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Recurrent dreams : Recurring threat simulations?
- 2006
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Ingår i: Consciousness and Cognition. - : Elsevier. - 1053-8100 .- 1090-2376. ; 15:2, s. 464-469
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Zadra, Desjardins, and Marcotte (2006) have made a valuable contribution to the empirical testing of the Threat Simulation Theory (TST) (Revonsuo, 2000a) in recurrent dreams. For the most part, their results are in accordance with the theory, while some findings seem to conflict with the predictions of TST. In our commentary, we consider some alternative ways to interpret the results, and we conclude that many prominent features of most recurrent dreams seem to be manifestations of a threat simulation function, leading to repeated rehearsal of threat perception and avoidance, but a minority of recurrent dreams seem to have origins unrelated to threat simulation.
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| 9. |
- Valli, Katja, et al.
(författare)
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Sleep : Dreaming Data and Theories
- 2009
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Ingår i: Encyclopedia of Consciousness. - London : Academic Press. - 9780123738646 - 0123738644 ; , s. 341-355
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 10. |
- Valli, Katja, et al.
(författare)
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The effect of trauma on dream content : A field study of Palestinian children
- 2006
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Ingår i: Dreaming (New York, N.Y.). - : American Psychological Association (APA). - 1053-0797 .- 1573-3351. ; 16:2, s. 63-87
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the present study, we compared the frequency and intensity of threatening events in the dreams of traumatized and nontraumatized Palestinian children. The aim of the study was to test some of the predictions and hypotheses derived from the Threat Simulation Theory proposing an evolutionary function for dreaming. Most, but not all, of our hypotheses were supported by the findings. We discuss the results in the light of the Threat Simulation Theory, and we also consider whether alternative theories of dream function are able to account for them
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| 11. |
- Valli, Katja, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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The threat simulation theory in light of recent empirical evidence : a review
- 2009
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Ingår i: American Journal of Psychology. - : University of Illinois Press. - 0002-9556 .- 1939-8298. ; 122:1, s. 17-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The recently proposed threat simulation theory (TST) states that dreaming about threatening events has a biological function. In the past few years, the TST has led to several dream content analysis studies that empirically test the theory. The predictions of the TST have been investigated mainly with a new content analysis system, the Dream Threat Scale (DTS), a method developed for identifying and classifying threatening events in dreams. In this article we review the studies that have tested the TST with the DTS. We summarize and reevaluate the results based on the dreams of Finnish and Swedish university students, traumatized and nontraumatized Kurdish, Palestinian, and Finnish children, and special dream samples, namely recurrent dreams and nightmares collected from Canadian participants. We sum up other recent research that has relevance for the TST and discuss the extent to which empirical evidence supports or conflicts with the TST. New evidence and new direct tests of the predictions of the TST yield strong support for the theory, and the TST's strengths seem to outweigh its weaknesses.
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| 12. |
- Valli, Katja, 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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The threat simulation theory of the evolutionary function of dreaming : Evidence from dreams of traumatized children
- 2005
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Ingår i: Consciousness and Cognition. - : Elsevier. - 1053-8100 .- 1090-2376. ; 14:1, s. 188-218
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The threat simulation theory of dreaming (TST) () states that dream consciousness is essentially an ancient biological defence mechanism, evolutionarily selected for its capacity to repeatedly simulate threatening events. Threat simulation during dreaming rehearses the cognitive mechanisms required for efficient threat perception and threat avoidance, leading to increased probability of reproductive success during human evolution. One hypothesis drawn from TST is that real threatening events encountered by the individual during wakefulness should lead to an increased activation of the system, a threat simulation response, and therefore, to an increased frequency and severity of threatening events in dreams. Consequently, children who live in an environment in which their physical and psychological well-being is constantly threatened should have a highly activated dream production and threat simulation system, whereas children living in a safe environment that is relatively free of such threat cues should have a weakly activated system. We tested this hypothesis by analysing the content of dream reports from severely traumatized and less traumatized Kurdish children and ordinary, non-traumatized Finnish children. Our results give support for most of the predictions drawn from TST. The severely traumatized children reported a significantly greater number of dreams and their dreams included a higher number of threatening dream events. The dream threats of traumatized children were also more severe in nature than the threats of less traumatized or non-traumatized children.
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