🕊️🐶 I would like to recommend the article “Do Animals Dream?” by J.E. Malinowski, D. Scheel, and M. McCloskey, published in Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 95, October 2021. This fascinating study delves into the concept of animal dreaming, a topic that greatly interests me.
The article challenges conventional perspectives on consciousness by adopting an evolutionary approach. It meticulously examines the connection between sleep’s biological functions, the phenomenon of dreaming, and the unique challenges posed when studying dreams in non-human entities.
A key point highlighted in the study is the identification of dreaming in humans through verbal reports, underscoring the necessity for alternative methods in animal dream research. These methods encompass the analysis of dream behaviors, the investigation of neural adaptations linked to dreaming, and the exploration of memory replay during sleep. Dream behaviors observed in conditions such as REM sleep behavior disorder and narcolepsy offer valuable insights into dream content. The neural adaptations associated with dreaming involve specific brain regions and distinct brain activities. Moreover, the process of memory replay during sleep, evident in various human sleep stages, entails the reactivation and consolidation of new memories.
The article extends these concepts to animals, observing that many species display sleep states akin to human REM and slow-wave sleep. It emphasizes the potential of applying our understanding of neural correlations and memory retransmission from human dreams to animal species. This is particularly relevant in mammals, birds, and cephalopods like octopuses, which show sleep behaviors that may indicate dreaming. Intriguing examples include complex behaviors in cats and rats with specific brain lesions, as well as sleep behaviors in octopuses, suggesting the possibility of dreaming in these creatures.🕊️💎