Dreaming, Adaptation, and Consciousness.The Social Mapping Hypothesis

This article develops and tests the social mapping hypothesis, namely, that the neurophysiology of dreaming may have been a preadaptation for the evolution of hominid consciousness. Dreaming locates the dreamer in emotionally salient social space, a trait possibly derived from hippocampal spatial mapping. This skill in self‐imaging and location can be correlated with the broader social brain hypothesis. Dreaming is thus expected to share significant features with consciousness, symbolization, and cognitive mechanisms pertaining to culture; and it is shown to do so. Rival models of consciousness and dream function are compared and assessed, and Flanagan's assertion that dreaming is epiphenomenal is challenged.