title: Relationships between non-pathological dream-enactment and mirror behaviors.
abstract: Dream-enacting behaviors (DEBs) are behavioral expressions of forceful dream images often occurring during sleep-to-wakefulness transitions. We propose that DEBs reflect brain activity underlying social cognition, in particular, motor-affective resonance generated by the mirror neuron system. We developed a Mirror Behavior Questionnaire (MBQ) to assess some dimensions of mirror behaviors and investigated relationships between MBQ scores and DEBs in a large of university undergraduate cohort. MBQ scores were normally distributed and described by a four-factor structure (Empathy/Emotional Contagion, Behavioral Imitation, Sleepiness/Anger Contagion, Motor Skill Imitation). DEB scores correlated positively with MBQ total and factor scores even with social desirability, somnambulism and somniloquy controlled. Emotion-specific DEB items correlated with corresponding emotion-specific MBQ items, especially crying and smiling. Results provide preliminary evidence for cross-state relationships between propensities for dream-enacting and mirror behaviors--especially behaviors involving motor-affective resonance--and our suggestion that motor-affective resonance mediates dream-enactment imagery during sleep and emotional empathy during waking.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Psychiatry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada; Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: tore.nielsen@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: Tore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kuiken
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004325:Dreams / Q000502:physiology*; D004645:Empathy / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059167:Mirror Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D020187:REM Sleep Behavior Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: DEBS; DEBs; Dream-enacting behaviors; Dreaming; EEG; EMG; Empathy; IFG; MBQ; MRI; Mentalizing network; Mirror Behavior Questionnaire; Mirror behaviors; Mirror neuron system; Motor-affective resonance; RBD; REM; REM sleep behavior disorder; SDS; Sex differences; ToM; dream-enacting behavior scale; dream-enacting behaviors; electroencephalogram; electromyogram; inferior frontal gyrus; magnetic resonance imaging; rapid eye movement; social desirability scale; theory-of-mind