Nature 304, 111 - 114 (14 July 1983); doi:10.1038/304111a0

The function of dream sleep

Francis Crick^* & Graeme Mitchison^*

^*The Salk Institute 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. Present address (G.M.): MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the Kenneth Craik Laboratory, Cambridge CB2 3EG, UK.

We propose that the function of dream sleep (more properly rapid-eye movement or REM sleep) is to remove certain undesirable modes of interaction in networks of cells in the cerebral cortex. We postulate that this is done in REM sleep by a reverse learning mechanism (see also p. 158), so that the trace in the brain of the unconscious dream is weakened, rather than strengthened, by the dream.

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