Theories of dream formation and recent studies of sleep consciousness.

Some of the implications of recent electrophysiological stud.es of sleep for dream theory, especially the theory of dream formation, are considered. Studies showing a variety of mentation in all stages of sleep fail to confirm Freud's belief that mental activity suddenly attracts consciousness at dream onset. The nature of predream merit ition, however, supports Freud's concept of day residues, and there is also evidence to support his position that dream-work processes distort these day residues into sometimes barely recognizable components, of bizarre dream episodes. Adler's insistence on the continuity of wakinj; and sleeping thought finds support in the nature and extent of nondreaming mentation in sleep. Both Freud and Adler are challenged on the alleged traumatic affective instigation of dreams; emotional complexes may take advantage of the dreaming state, but they seem neither to precipitate that state nor to determine its initial perceptual-ideational content.