Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

The function of dream sleep

Nature volume 304, pages 111–114 (1983)Cite this article

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.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. Hartmann, E.L. The Functions of Sleep (Yale University Press, London, 1973).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Cartwright, R.D. A Primer on Sleep and Dreaming (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massuchusetts, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Schmitt, F.O., Worden, F.G., Adelman, G. & Dennis, S.G. (eds) The Organization of the Cerebral Cortex (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1981).

  4. Siegel, R.K. Scient. Am. 237, 132–141 (1977).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ermentrout, G.B. & Cowan, J.D. Biol. Cybernetics 34, 137–150 (1979).

    MathSciNet  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Palm, G. Neural Assemblies: An Alternative Approach to Artificial Intelligence (Springer, New York, 1982).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  7. Kohonen, T. Associative Memory (Springer, New York, 1977).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  8. Hinton, G.E. & Anderson, J. (eds) Parallel Models of Associative Memory (Erlbaum, Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1981).

  9. Hobson, J.A., McCarley, R.W. & Nelson, J.P. J. Neurophysiol. (in the press).

  10. Roffwarg, H.P., Muzio, J.N. & Dement, W.C. Science 152, 604–619 (1966).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Allison, T. & Van Twyver, H. Nat. Hist. 79, 56–65 (1970).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Allison, T. & Cicchetti, D.V. Science 194, 732–734 (1976).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Klein, M., Michel, F. & Jouvet, M. C.r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris 158, 99–103 (1964).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Dement, W. Science 131, 1705–1707 (1960).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kales, A., Hoedemacher, F., Jacobson, A. & Lichtenstein, E. Nature 204, 1337–1338 (1964).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Hobson, J.A. & McCarley, R.W. Am. J. Psychiat. 134, 1335–1348 (1977).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Jouvet, M. Archs. ital. Biol. 100, 125–206 (1962).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Hopfield, J.J., Feinstein, D.I. & Palmer, R.G. Nature 304, 158–159 (1983).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Newman, E.A. & Evans, C.R. Nature 206, 534 (1965).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Gaarder, K. Arch. gen. Psychiat. 14, 253–260 (1966).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Dewan, E.M. in Sleep and Dreaming (ed. Hartmann, E.) 295–307 (Little-Brown, Boston, 1970).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Greenberg, R. & Pearlman, C. Persp. Biol. Med. 7, 513–521 (1974).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Jouvet, M. Prog. Brain Res. 53, 331–346 (1980).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hobson, J.A. in Brain Mechanisms and Perceptual Awareness (eds Pompeiano, O. & Marsan, C. A.) 379–404 (Raven, New York, 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Dement, W. in Academy of Psychoanalysis: Science and Psychoanalysis Vol. 7 (ed. Masserman, J.) 129–184 (Grune and Stratton, New York, 1964).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Vogel, G.W. Arch. gen. Psychiat. 18, 312–329 (1968).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Cohen, H.B. and Dement, W.C. Science 150, 1318–1319 (1965).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Hartmann, E., Marcus, J. & Leinoff, A. Psychonom. Sci. 13, 141–142 (1968).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Cohen, H., Thomas, J. & Dement, W.C. Brain Res. 19, 317–321 (1970).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Cohen, H.B. & Dement, W.C. Brain Res. 22, 421–422 (1970).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Greenberg, R., Pearlman, C., Fingar, R., Kantrowitz, J. & Kawliche, S. Br. J. med. Psychol. 43, 1–11 (1970).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Cartwright, R.D. & Ratzel, R.W. Arch. gen. Psychiat. 27, 277–280 (1972).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Wyatt, R.J., Kupfer, D.J., Scott, J., Robinson, D.S. & Snyder, F. Psychopharmacologia 15, 236–244 (1969).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Griffiths, M. The Biology of Monotremes (Academic, New York, 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  35. Allison, T., Van Twyner, H. & Goff, W.R. Archs. ital. biol. 110, 145–184 (1972).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Smith, G.E. R. Coll. Surg. Mus. Cat Physiol. Ser. 2, 133–157 (1902).

  37. Vogel, G.W. & Traub, A.C. Arch. gen. Psychiat. 18, 287–300 (1968).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Graeme Mitchison

    Present address: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the Kenneth Craik Laboratory, Cambridge, CB2 3EG, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Salk Institute, 10010 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California, 92037, USA

    Francis Crick & Graeme Mitchison

Authors
  1. Francis Crick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Graeme Mitchison
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Crick, F., Mitchison, G. The function of dream sleep. Nature 304, 111–114 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/304111a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/304111a0

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing