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Browsing by Author "Kuiken, Don"

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    Immediate and delayed incorporations of events into dreams: further replication and implications for dream function
    (2004) Nielsen, Tore A.; Kuiken, Don; Alain, Genevieve; Stenstrom, Philippe; Powell, Russell A.
    The incorporation of memories into dreams is characterized by two types of temporal effects: the day-residue effect, involving immediate incorporations of events from the preceding day, and the dream-lag effect, involving incorporations delayed by about a week. This study was designed to replicate these two effects while controlling several prior methodological problems and to provide preliminary information about potential functions of delayed event incorporations. Introductory Psychology students were asked to recall dreams at home for 1 week. Subsequently, they were instructed to select a single dream and to retrieve past events related to it that arose from one of seven randomly determined days prior to the dream (days 1–7). They then rated both their confidence in recall of events and the extent of correspondence between events and dreams. Judges evaluated qualities of the reported events using scales derived from theories about the function of delayed incorporations. Average ratings of correspondences between dreams and events were high for predream days 1 and 2, low for days 3 and 4 and high again for days 5–7, but only for participants who rated their confidence in recall of events as high and only for females. Delayed incorporations were more likely than immediate incorporations to refer to events characterized by interpersonal interactions, spatial locations, resolved problems and positive emotions. The findings are consistent with the possibility that processes with circaseptan (about 7 days) morphology underlie dream incorporation and that these processes subserve the functions of socio-emotional adaptation and memory consolidation.
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    Nightmare frequency is related to a propensity for mirror behaviors
    (2013) Nielsen, Tore A.; Powell, Russell A.; Kuiken, Don
    We previously reported that college students who indicated engaging in frequent dream-enacting behaviors also scored high on a new measure of mirror behaviors, which is the propensity to imitate another person's emotions or actions. Since dream-enacting behaviors are frequently the culmination of nightmares, one explanation for the observed relationship is that individuals who frequently display mirror behaviors are also prone to nightmares. We used the Mirror Behavior Questionnaire (MBQ) and self-reported frequencies of nightmares to assess this possibility. A sample of 480 students, consisting of 188 males (19.2±1.73 years) and 292 females (19.0±1.55 years) enrolled in a first-year university psychology course, participated for course credit. They completed a battery of questionnaires that included the 16-item MBQ, plus an item about nightmare frequency (NMF) in the past 30 days. NMF scores were split to create low, medium, and high NMF groups. MBQ total scores were significantly higher for female than for male subjects, but an interaction revealed that this was true only for Hi-NMF subjects. MBQ Factor 4, Motor Skill Imitation, paralleled this global interaction for females, whereas MBQ Factor 3, Sleepiness/Anger Contagion, was elevated only for Hi-NMF males. Item analyses indicated that Hi- and Med-NMF females scored higher than Lo-NMF females on the 3 items of Factor 4 that reflect voluntary imitation (imitating famous/cartoon voices, being a physically active spectator, and learning new skills by observing), as well as on 2 other items that reflect involuntary imitation (contagious yawning and self-rated empathy). Although Hi- and Lo-NMF males differed most clearly on the sleepiness item of Factor 3, all 3 items on this factor (including anger contagion and contagious yawning) are plausibly associated with perception of and response to social threat. Results provide evidence that among females nightmares are associated with voluntary and involuntary mirror behaviors during wakefulness, while among males nightmares are associated with threat-related mirror behaviors during wakefulness. They thus support the possibility that the association between mirror behaviors and dream-enacting behaviors is due to a common mirror neuron mechanism that underlies mirror behaviors and nightmares and that involves motor, rather than emotional, resonance. These results have implications for understanding the comorbidity of nightmares and other pathological symptoms such as imitative suicidal behaviors, the influence of observational learning on dissociative symptomatology, and the predominance of threat and aggression in the dream enacting behaviors of REM sleep behavior disorder.
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    Spatio-temporal displacement and expression of feeling in dreams of emotionally expressive persons
    (1980) Kuiken, Don; Powell, Russell A.
    Examined the relationship of expression of feeling during waking to expression of feeling and spatio-temporal displacement in dreams. 41 undergraduates, each of whom collected either 1 or 2 dreams at home, rated their dreams for expression of feeling, familiarity, and time passed since last experience with selected dream features. Ss then completed the Personal Orientation Inventory. An independent judge's ratings of expression of feeling in dreams was also obtained. Contrary to expectations, no significant correlations were found between the indices of expression of feeling (feeling reactivity, spontaneity, aggression) and either the Ss' or the judge's ratings of such expression in dreams. Further, the inventory indices of expression of feeling correlated positively and significantly with spatio-temporal displacememt in dreams. These results contradict the theory of R. Corriere et al (see record 1978-22405-001 ) according to which expression of feeling is inversely related to spatio-temporal displacement in dreams. An alternative hypothesis implicates expression of feeling in the process of integrating recent events with more remote memories.
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    Transpersonal and personal realizations in dreams: native and non-native differences
    (1995) Gackenbach, Jayne; Kuiken, Don
    Through various forms of involvement with Central Alberta Cree (cf. Gackenbach, in press; Gackenbach, 1992-93; Kuiken, Sharp, Jaques, & Mos, 1987), several impressions concerning their orientation toward dream experience have crystallized. One is familiar: Cree dreamers seem more likely than non-Native dreamers to experience their dreams as originating from other-worldly, transpersonal sources. Another is less familiar -- and more speculative: Cree dreamers seem less likely than non-Natives to regard their dreams as providing affectively significant personal insights.