title: Approach/avoidance in dreams.
abstract: The influential threat simulation theory (TST) asserts that dreaming yields adaptive advantage by providing a virtual environment in which threat-avoidance may be safely rehearsed. We have previously found the incidence of biologically threatening dreams to be around 20%, with successful threat avoidance occurring in approximately one-fifth of such dreams. TST asserts that threat avoidance is over-represented relative to other possible dream contents. To begin assessing this issue, we contrasted the incidence of 'avoidance' dreams with that of their opposite: 'approach' dreams. Because TST states that the threat-avoidance function is only fully activated in ecologically valid (biologically threatening) contexts, we also performed this contrast for populations living in both high- and low-threat environments. We find that 'approach' dreams are significantly more prevalent across both contexts. We suggest these results are more consistent with the view that dreaming is generated by reward-seeking systems than by fear-conditioning systems, although reward-seeking is clearly not the only factor determining the content of dreams.
authors.affiliation: ACSENT Laboratory, Dept. of Psychology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa. Susan.Malcolm-Smith@uct.ac.za
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malcolm-Smith
authors.forename: Sheri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koopowitz
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pantelis
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Solms
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D004325:Dreams / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012201:Reward; D013019:South Africa; D014852:Wales
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine