Analyzing a Long Dream Series provides an extraordinary insight into the richness and variability of dreams, considering over 12,000 dreams that have been recorded for more than 30 years. Internationally recognized dream scientist Michael Schredl opens up his own personal dream series, offering a unique window into the interplay between waking life and dreaming. The book considers a huge range of dream topics, including family, friends, schoolmates, colleagues, erotic dreams, alongside the appearance of everyday objects. It also discusses rarer themes such as pain perception, temperature perception, and typical dreams about toilets, exams, and teeth. As the author is both the dreamer and the researcher, questions like why we dream about topics we have never experienced in waking life – for example, about the pain of being shot in the stomach – can be addressed, shedding light on the creative nature of dreams. The in-depth analyses provided in this book attempt to answer the field's most profound questions: why do we dream every night, and why do we dream in such creative ways about the issues that are important to us in waking life? The dreams analyzed question existing dream theories such as simulation theories, and the author proposes a function of recalled dreams for creative problem solving and provides ideas for future research. This fascinating book is an essential read for all dream researchers and students of the psychology of dreams.

What can be gleaned from the study of our dreams? With research methods in mind—including the shortcomings and strengths of various strategies—the book presents a comprehensive introduction to the research obtained so far. Topics include the factors of dream recall; the continuity hypothesis of dreaming; the relationship between physiology and dream content; etiology and therapy of nightmares; and lucid dreaming. The book not only presents a comprehensive introduction to the research obtained so far but also provide the tools to carry our scientific dream studies—including the shortcomings and strengths of various approaches.

This two-volume set examines dreams and dreaming from a variety of angles—biological, psychological, and sociocultural—in order to provide readers with a holistic introduction to this fascinating subject. Whether good or bad and whether we remember them or not, each night every one of us dreams. But what biological or psychological function do dreams serve? What do these vivid images and strange storylines mean? How have psychologists, religions, and society at large interpreted dreams, and how can a closer examination of our dreams provide useful insights? Dreams: Understanding Biology, Psychology, and Culture presents a holistic view of dreams and the dreaming experience that answers these and many other questions. Divided thematically, this two-volume book examines the complex and often misunderstood subject of dreaming through a variety of lenses. This collection is written by a large and diverse team of experts and edited by leading members of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) but remains an approachable and accessible introduction to this captivating topic for all readers.

This new neurocognitive theory documents the unexpected similarities of dreaming to waking thought, demonstrates personal psychological meaning can be found in a majority of dreams reports, has a strong developmental psychology dimension, pinpoints the neural substrate for dreaming, and shows it is very unlikely that dreaming has any adaptive function.

The Limits of Dream focuses on what we currently know of the human central nervous system (CNS), examining the basic sciences of neurochemisty, neuroanatomy, and CNS electrophysiology as these sciences apply to dream, then reaching beyond basic science to examine the cognitive science of dreaming including the processes of memory, the perceptual interface, and visual imagery. Building on what is known of intrapersonal CNS processing, the book steps outside the physical body to explore artificially created dreams and their use in filmmaking, art and story, as well as the role of dreaming in creative process and creative "madness. The limits of our scientific knowledge of dream frame this window that can be used to explore the border between body and mind. What is known scientifically of the cognitive process of dreaming will lead the neuroscientist, the student of cognitive science, and the general reader down different paths than expected into an exploration of the fuzzy and complex horizon between mind and brain. - The clearest presentation of research and philosophy currently available relating to the mind/brain interface - Discusses the cognitive processes of dreaming utilized in film and artificial intelligence - Describes the functioning of dream in the creative process