This paper presents a meta-analysis of dream theory within psychology and neuroscience. The questions it attempts to answer are: what is the neuroscientific basis of dreaming? Why do dreams exist (do they have an adaptive function)? Could dreams possibly have no function? And, what is the best way to interpret a dream? The current analysis presents various theories relevant to each of these questions and compares their viability. It also briefly examines the origins of psychological thought on dreams and, towards the end, outlines the steps and empirical support for a well-regarded method of dream interpretation known as the cognitive experiential model. In the end, the analysis finds that a major likely cause of dreaming is the occurrence of different memory processes during REM sleep, whose activity likely also contributes to dream content. As for adaptive functions, the existing neuroscientific evidence suggests that we are almost certainly capable of learning during dreams and that learning may therefore be one of dreams’ primary adaptive functions. However, due to the scarcity of research on dreams, few of these conclusions can be drawn with overwhelming confidence. Lastly, in regards to dream interpretation, the cognitive experiential model seems to provides a framework for dream interpretation which clients and therapists alike find satisfying and useful.

Dans cette étude nous nous proposons de mettre au jour ce qui assure la cohérence du texte dans quatre récits autobiographiques d’André Breton : Nadja, Les Vases communicants, L’Amour fou et Arcane 17. Nous proposons de les appeler « tétralogie » bretonienne. Après avoir montré que les approches en narratologie ne sont pas adaptées à cette fin, nous verrons que l’argumentation ayant pour but de transmettre l’idée du surréalisme donne un cadre intégrateur à ces récits pour en assurer la cohérence. Chaque texte doit selon nous être considéré comme une situation de communication entre le lecteur et l’auteur, c’est-à-dire dans sa dimension pragmatique et énonciative. L’illustration photographique, présente dans trois récits de la « tétralogie », fait partie des moyens mis en œuvre par l’acte d’argumenter. Elle contribue au mieux à cette communication-argumentation. Nous démontrons que ces récits doivent être considérés comme des « livres illustrés » modernisés par la photographie. Dans cette optique, nous examinons le rôle et l’évolution de la photographie à travers la « tétralogie ».Nous montrons que la situation de communication est figurée dans chacun des quatre récits comme un espace théâtral car chacun d’eux est construit comme un théâtre virtuel et fantasmatique. La théorie freudienne du rêve et du théâtre nous permet d’explorer la théâtralité de la « tétralogie » tout en résolvant le paradoxe du théâtre chez BRETON. / This study aims at clarifying the textual coherence in four autobiographical narratives of the Surrealist Poet André Breton: Nadja, Les Vases communicants, L’Amour fou and Arcane 17, which we propose to call “bretonian tetralogy”. Our main thesis is the central importance, in this “tetralogy”, of acts and means of convincing the reader of the genuineness of Surrealism. And the author succeeds in establishing a dynamic tête-à-tête relation with his reader, which endows each narrative with its inward coherence. Photography plays a key role in this rhetoric scheme, and we put forward the interpretation of “bretonian tetralogy” as a variation of 19th century’s illustrated book modernized by the medium and visualization device. On the basis of Freud’s theory about dream and theatricality, we demonstrate that these narratives must be considered as virtual theatres since incorporated theatricality is a way of reminding and exploiting, in the shape of a text, the discourse situation underway between communication partners; Breton and his reader.

Arguably the most popular current theories of dreaming are the functional theories, including the emotional adaptation or problem-solving theory. These theories revolve around the idea that dreams may serve an independent adaptive function, helping us to adjust to, cope with, or resolve emotionally difficult life circumstances, problems and concerns. Contrary to these theories, other researchers have argued that dreams may have no function of their own, but are an epiphenomenon of REM sleep. The cognitive theories of dreaming suggest that dream content is continuous with waking concerns and preoccupations, and that dreaming about waking concerns is not adaptive but reflective, in a similar way that waking thought or daydreaming is reflective, of what is uppermost in the mind of the dreamer. A relatively small body of research (e.g., Barrett, 1993; Cartwright, 1991; Kramer, 1993) relating to individuals who have experienced major stressful life events, is often cited as support for the theory that dreams serve the specific function of helping us to adjust or adapt to current events. Until recently, this body of work has gone largely unexamined and unreplicated, though some have questioned the findings and their implications for the function of dreaming. The research presented in this thesis examined whether dream content reflects a process of adjustment in people who had recently experienced a marital separation, by investigating the relationship between their dream content in relation to measures of adjustment over time. In Study 1, 97 recently separated participants and 93 married controls were tested on personality and coping factors, asked to answer questions about their dream content, and then monitored over 12 months for change in their adjustment. In Study 2, a subset of 42 separated participants kept dream logs for a period of four weeks. Their dream reports were subjected to a qualitative analysis of thematic content, including threat and threat mastery, and analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between threat content, mastery and adjustment. In Study 3, a subset of eight Study 2 participants participated in a case study analysis which investigated contextual information about their individual situations in relation to their dream content and adjustment, in order to explore, in a more detailed way, the relationship between dream themes, adjustment, and waking concerns. Study 4 was designed to compare the findings of the previous studies with a separate sample, using three different methodologies for the collection of dream content data. This study was carried out to replicate the previous studies with the addition of a laboratory-based data collection technique. In Study 4, 18 separated participants spent one night in the sleep laboratory, monitored with a Nightcap, which allowed dream data to be collected from them via questionnaires, dream logs, and REM awakenings. Across all of the studies, and regardless of the method used to measure dream recall and content, there was a significant concurrent relationship between better adjustment and fewer dreams relating to participants’ marital situations. Those with the most distress were the same ones who were dreaming excessively about their separation. These findings suggest that dreams are continuous with waking preoccupation, and do not function to aid adjustment. As such, they did not support the functional adaptation theories of dreaming. The findings were more consistent with the cognitive theories of dreaming, including the theory that dreams have meaning, but no independent function of their own. A significant relationship was, however, found between ego strength, coping style and adjustment, highlighting the greater influence of internal personal resources in adjusting to difficult life circumstances. While these findings do not discount the suggestion that individuals derive significant personal meaning from their dreams, nor the possibility that dreams may reflect something of the function of REM sleep, they do suggest that “adaptationist” assumptions of functional theories of dreaming may be unfounded.