Patrick McNamara Ph. D.

Dreams and Visions (eBook, ePUB)

How Religious Ideas Emerge in Sleep and Dreams

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

A standout resource on the emerging field of applying neuropsychology and the latest findings in sleep and dream research to religious experience, this book investigates the proven biological links between REM dreams and religious ideas, covering past and current schools of thought in both the science of dreams and the science of religion. Across time and around the world, billions of people with highly dissimilar backgrounds and cultures have felt spiritual or religious inspiration that shaped their lives and supplemented their mental strength-and in many cases, this inspiration came via a dream. The "how" and "why" of this common phenomenon is one that science has largely failed to explain. In this book, nationally recognized behavioral neuroscientist Patrick McNamara taps the latest science in sleep and dreams as well as neuropsychology to investigate one facet of the answer from the "inside out"-the human brain's role. The first study of its kind in an emerging field, Dreams and Visions: How Religious Ideas Emerge in Sleep and Dreams provides a comprehensive summary of past theory and examines the latest science on dreams, REM sleep, cognitive approaches to religion, and neuroscience approaches to religion. Readers will come away with an in-depth understanding of how and why god beliefs and spiritual convictions so often emerge in our dreams. Dedicated sections address special dream types like visitation dreams, nightmares, precognitive dreams, "big" dreams, lucid dreams, paralysis dreams, twin dreams, and more.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
• Seitenzahl: 328
• Altersempfehlung: ab 7 Jahre
• Erscheinungstermin: 26. September 2016
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9798216076308
• Artikelnr.: 68164988

Autorenporträt

Patrick McNamara is Director of the Evolutionary Neurobehavior Laboratory in the Department of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine, and the VA New England Healthcare System. He is also Assistant Professor of Neurology at the same sites. He is currently developing an evolutionary approach to problems of brain and behavior, and studying the evolution of the frontal lobes, the two mammalian sleep states (REM and NREM) and the evolution of religion in cultures. He is trained in behavioral neuorscience, neurolinguistics and brain-cognitive correlation techniques. He pioneered investigation of the role of the frontal lobes in mediation of religious experience.

Inhaltsangabe

Series Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction Caveats History of the
Religion-Dreams Link Chapter 1. Dreams That Appear to Yield Direct
Perceptual Evidence of a Spirit Realm Nightmares Meeting One's Double in a
Dream/Nightmare Visitation Dreams and Spirits Lucid Dreaming and Religious
Consciousness Precognitive Dreams False Awakenings and Sleep Paralysis
Dreams REM Parasomnias Chapter 2. The Anthropology of Dreams and Religion
Chapter 3. Cognitive Processes in Dreams That Produce Religious Ideas
Cognitive Processes in Dreams That Give Rise to Religious Ideas:
Supernatural Agents (SAs) Cognitive Models of Agency REM Sleep, Emotional
Regulation, and Personality Traits Theory-of-Mind Attributions REM, Theory
of Mind, and the Default Network Chapter 4. The Neurobiology of REM Is the
Core Neurobiology of Religious Experiences PGO Waves and the Orienting
Reaction (OR) Psychopharmacology of REM Sleep and the Chemistry of Altered
States of Consciousness Overlap with Neurobiology of Religiousness REM
intrusion and Daydreams REM and the Dopamine Systems REM-Related
Computations of Value and Salience Chapter 5. Why REM Sleep May Be a Highly
Sensitive Perceptual System A Brief Detour into the Senses Weak Signals in
Dreams Precognitive Dreams Redux Twin Dreams and Weak Signals Is the
Information We Get in Dreams Reliable? Dreamwork, Creativity, and Religious
Ideas Chapter 6. Religiosity and Dream Recall Non-Dreamers and Religiosity
Sleep Disorders and Religiosity Dreams in Schizophrenia Autism Dreams in
the Subgroup of Patients with Parkinson's Disease Who Report Lower Levels
of Religiosity Chapter 7. Implications and Conclusions Religion, Dreams,
and Morality Is Religion an Adaptation? Creating Individuals Who Can
Cooperate Over the Long Term Enter Religion Universality Effortless
Acquisition of Religiousness Specific Biology Appendices Appendix A: A
Quick Tour of the Brain Science Relevant for Religion and REM Sleep
Appendix B: How Scientists Study REM and NREM Dreams Appendix C: Dream
Transcripts across a Single Night of Sleep Appendix D: Dream Transcripts
Scored for Agency Changes Index