This is something that I've been meaning to synthesize for some time now. I've been developing this theory since my (personal) foray into behavioral finance which eventually broadened my interest to encompass cognitive psychology. I would love input from any psychology or biology specialists that might encounter this entry. This is what I sent to my school's psychology research department:
To whom it may concern:
I am an undergraduate economics student at _______. The purpose of this email is to detail a portion of my speculative research in what might best be classified as "computational cognitive psychology", and to determine whether my work has merit or is at all original in the field. Specifically, what I outline below is my view on dreams and sleep, and the utilitarian/evolutionary purpose behind them. Please note that what follows is hardly analytically intense, and experiential methods of research might be difficult to support my claims, if at all possible. In addition, my only formal education in psychology has been through an introductory course, and specific terms I utilize might denote different meanings in formal papers. I am contacting Dr. ____ as I was unable to find a more suitable fit for the research I am potentially interested in pursing further.
NB: The following is quite lengthy and presents a pseudo-abstract of what I would imagine possible further work would entail.
Broad, guiding questions I seek to answer: Why do humans dream? What purpose do dreams serve in conscious states of the human mind?
The amount of cognitive processing the human mind must endure on a daily basis is overwhelming in scope. From a cursory point of view, it must constantly respond appropriately to sensory information and construct a sufficient model of reality to do so. While beings with less cognitive capacity such as insects have been biologically programmed over time to develop appropriate instinctive responses to stimuli necessary to survive, the human mind constructs a far more elaborate and complex view of reality and possesses a higher-level of thought processing by which to view the world.
This allows humans to accept abstract, propositional truths about reality such as a multitude of physical laws that are difficult to experientially observe (the earth revolving around the sun, etc). However, my contention is that a large proportion of modeling is also derived from simulations of artificially constructed realities (simulations of behavioral or social interactions). These are learned empirically, in conjunction with propositional truths (heuristics). For example, an individual driving a car can intuitively accept "rules" governing driving:that the gas pedal moves the car, the stop sign signifies a stopping action, etc. It must also behaviorally learn the various outcomes and consequences any action he can potentially take produces. IE he must empirically learn and experience what to do when a pedestrian jumps in front of his car while he is driving, as the components that comprise this experience are vast in nature, and are inefficiently taught as a propositional truth such as where to position his eyes, whether to keep his hand on the wheel, to take the foot off the gas pedal, etc. Thus, he must be able to simulate beforehand the infinite number of actions (and their implications) he can take in any given situation in conjunction with accepted and broadly encompassing "rules"; this is, in effect, reality.
My hypothesis is that dreams serve as the medium by which humans must simulate these processes and components of reality. The sheer overwhelming scope of possibilities and actions one can take when applying propositional rules is best modeled through simulations in the form of dreams. It allows humans to test outrageous claims as well as possible actions one can take in order to form a coherent model of reality in waking life. It can prevent disastrous outcomes: in the car example, deciding to close one's eyes when a pedestrian walks in front of the moving car could prove to be dreadful. From a computational viewpoint, the only way to construct an appropriate, or perhaps optimal, response is to test possible actions in simulation as the cognitive processing required if one were forced into the situation in reality would be inefficient, inappropriate, or too slow to respond . Dreams serve to establish and construct a set of rules in order to properly map reality and figure out proper behavioral responses.
Although my preliminary research into other professionals' works has implicitly already suggested that (primarily via the work of Dr. Revonsuo) dreams are used as a form of threat constructions (IE simulations that represent potentially dangerous scenarios, "nightmares"), I feel my work is original in that it encompasses a wider range of not only the entire distribution of dreams, but also reality as a whole rather than only threatening scenarios in waking life. In essence, I would argue that dreaming presents a framework for modeling all of reality; this also explains why we have non-threat construction dreams.The reason I might laugh after experiencing a dream in which I am flying with wings (a scenario that I presumably would not need to prepare for in waking life) is that I am implicitly able to recognize that it was a simulation with absurd rules that I can consciously reject in reality; it was merely my mind hypothesis-testing an outrageous possibility in simulation which now recognizes its ludicrousness.
I also hope that potential research relating to this abstract might be able to serve as a possible psychopharmacological remedy to mentally ill patients, primarily schizophrenics. A hypothesis that might be tested is whether dream-enhancing or altering medication might be used as an appropriate treatment for patients that have difficulty differentiating between reality and fiction (perhaps their dream simulations are so vivid that the mind is unable to perceive reality and is unable to control or recognize absurd simulations in conscious life). This might be further supported by the fact that schizophrenics have been proven to daydream in an uncontrollable manner with extreme vividness. Computationally recognizing when it is acceptable to dream might be a prerequisite to mental sanity in at least some cases.
I apologize for the length of this email as well as any inadvertent naivete on my part as once again I have little formal education in psychology as an academic field. Although an evidence based analytical approach to substantiating my claims with rigorous statistical backing might be difficult to accomplish, my hope is that the reader of this preliminary theory views it as a bit more than armchair philosophizing or a creative interpretation of the excellent movie "Inception". Once again, the purpose of writing this email is to determine whether comprehensive research is appropriate to further advance my ideas.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Angad
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