Dream Research

Exploring the connections between dreams and brain functions scientifically. It's simple really - just tell us your dreams and we'll do the rest! We are specifically interested in the details of memorable dreams induced by anti-depression medication, or any other brain specific drug delivery prescribed medication.

Neuropharmacology Insights

Drawing upon 2 years NPA pharmacology training and 8 years studying human behaviour and consciousness, a preliminary investigation into the effects of anti-depression medication upon dream experiences has yielded a surprising result which could have profound implications for psychological interventions for mental health and well-being. The aim is to see if these results can be replicated in a larger scale PhD level study.

Two birds one stone

A flipside of the research relates to gerontology. We seek to work with care homes and care workers in assisting the elderly (and socially isolated elderly) recall dreams by keeping a dream journal over several years. This may lead to improved memory and new therapeutic approaches (lifestyle-related interventions) for offsetting decline and improving cognitive function in the aging brain. Existing research is 'minimal', 'inconclusive' and 'unlikely'; our thesis is that improvement in the elderly may occur with the simple yet pragmatic solution of dream journalling - an habitual memory recall task that forges links between the conscious and sub/non-conscious - a task which our preliminary studies show improves recall exponentially.

Background research by the PhD candidate

Related undergraduate work in a neuroscience, psychology and philosophy of mind dissertation (applying a new understanding of how mental imagery affects our decision making (in order to solve the Gettier Problem)) gained a 1st class distinction and, when published on Academia.edu, garnered acknowledgment from the likes of Oxford luminary Anthony Grayling CBE

Related postgraduate work in psychology, linguistics and pragmatics focused on types of perception and specifically "spatial deixis". Identified by UHI as "highly ambitious", the research interviewed foreign language teachers across Scotland and sought to find out how the psychological component of spatial deixis manifests in the classroom/teaching space–compared with how the same psychological component manifests as experience-taking aka perspective-taking during full immersion contexts associated with CLIL (Content Language Integrated Learning) and computer gaming. Awarded GMBPsS as a result (graduate membership of the British Psychological Society), UHI described this MSc dissertation as a fascinating area of research whose author "is to be highly commended for identifying a unique question with real practical implications for language teaching." [watch this space! surveillez cet espace! behalten sie diesen bereich im auge!](references available)

In the field of psychology, the subfield of oneirology (/ɒnɪˈrɒlədʒi/; from Ancient Greek ὄνειρον, oneiron, "dream"; and -λογία, -logia, "the study of") is the scientific study of dreams...

...we aim to do so by exploring people's perceptions of dreams-induced-by-prescriptions because we know how medicines like SSRI anti-depressants (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) work on a neuronal level so we can compare such neuropharmacological information to people's 'qualia' - the introspectively accessible, phenomenal aspects of perception - in this case - the recall of dreams.

Describing dream recall can be a challenge though; the description of "six people and a dog walking as waves break on a rocky shoreline as two seagulls fly over" relates to the video behind this text, but using that limited definition would conjure up different mental images without the video. Headland or bay? Altitude and types of seagull? Twilight? Colours and hues? How many waves? Speed of waves? Ebbing or waning tide? Cardinal direction? Force? Type, shape and number of rocks? Where is all this in relation to you? Near/far, below/above?..etc. e.g. Google's tool gives 987+ words for describing waves https://describingwords.io/for/waves!

Since, by definition, qualia are subjective, conscious experiences that cannot be fully described or communicated or fully conveyed verbally - and because we cannot copy and paste videos of our dreams - we ask that you simply try your best to be as descriptive as possible. 🙏

NB: Experience-taking of video games is where first-person graphical perspectives are rendered from the viewpoint of the on-screen avatar (deictic centre of a player's character). Similarly, we conjure perspectives with our imagination when immersing our selves in any story be it a radio play or a good book - we imagine scenes being enacted from our own projected deictic centre. In recalling a dream, it is therefore helpful to rely on this same deictic perspective to render the narrative of dreams recalled: Deixis derives from Ancient Greek - δεῖξις (deîxis, “pointing, indicating, reference”) and δείκνυμι (deíknumi, “I show”) and forms an important part of linguistics and pragmatics, serving to interpret speech in context. In dream recall, this deictic perspective is our dream avatar or exteroceptive–interoceptive-point-of-experience* - or simply put - the dynamic viewpoint from whence we recall the full context of our dreams i.e. in dreams we perceive the contexts of environments around our dream deictic centre, and as we move though our dreams there is changing contextual information about the sound, shape, size, location, colour, texture, proximity etc of environmental factors (rooms, mountains, hedgerows, buildings, harbours, other actors etc, etc, etc,). Consequently, in addition to telling the story of the dream (what's happening within the dream environment) - describing the contextual shapes and spaces of the dream environment as accurately as possible is equally important to our research.

If there are multiple episodes to your dream, please try to delineate their sequence.

Good luck and enjoy the process! 🙏

*interoception is the collection of senses providing information to the organism about the internal state of the body. Exteroception is any form of sensation that results from stimuli located outside the body and is detected by exteroceptors, including vision, hearing, touch or pressure, heat, cold, pain, smell, and taste. Dreams can be immersive multisensory environments that encompass exteroceptive–interoceptive-like experiences.

Recalling Dreams

Dreams Unveiled

Explore the science of dreams and their connection to neuropharmacology and mental health solutions.

PhD CONTACT

psychology@14008140.online

Neuropharmacology is the study of how drugs affect function in the nervous system, and the neural mechanisms through which they influence behaviour. There are two main branches of neuropharmacology: behavioural and molecular. Behavioral neuropharmacology focuses on the study of how drugs affect human behaviour (neuropsychopharmacology), including the study of how drug dependence and addiction affect the human brain.

Molecular neuropharmacology involves the study of neurons and their neurochemical interactions, with the overall goal of developing drugs that have beneficial effects on neurological function.

Both of these fields are closely connected, since both are concerned with the interactions of neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, neurohormones, neuromodulators, enzymes, second messengers, co-transporters, ion channels, and receptor proteins in the central and peripheral nervous systems.

Deictic descriptions of medication-induced dreams will be compared to these neural mechanisms.