Hot zone, the place in the brain where dreams originate

Without a doubt a fascinating discovery that seems to suggest that consciousness is not located in the frontal and parietal lobes as previously believed, but in a specific posterior region.

Research and new discoveries in sleep science are always fascinating to us. For many people dreaming is a source of important personal discovery. A joint investigation by several neuroscientists from the United States, Italy and Switzerland has discovered what has been called the hot zone.

The hot zone It is an area of the brain with a pattern of activity that seems to tell us when dreams occur. It was also discovered that dreams do not only occur in the REM phase. And this pattern could also help us reveal something about the content of dreams. A fascinating discovery for the knowledge of human consciousness.

The investigation

The research team monitored the electrical activity of the brains of 32 people in a sleep laboratory. It was carried out in periods of 5 to 10 nights.. Subjects were awakened frequently to report their experiences during the time they had been asleep. They reported information about whether they had dreamed or not. They were asked if they remembered parts of the dream, the entire dream, or if they didn’t remember anything at all.

The difference between this study and previous research is that, in this case, brain activity was monitored with a cap containing 256 cables. This measurement provided a much more complete view than those carried out until now in sleep laboratories.

The results

The team discovered that while the subjects had dream experiences, a part of the brain tended to activate in a very significant way. They found a “hot spot” during dream experiences. This area is located in the parieto-occipital region of the cerebral cortex. It even seems to indicate that it could be the neural correlate of dreams.

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When this area is stimulated during wakefulness, a “feeling of being in a parallel world or in a dream state” is induced.. Without a doubt a fascinating discovery. This, in turn, seems to suggest that consciousness is located in a specific posterior region. Until now it was believed to be located in the frontal and parietal lobes.

“When subjects had dream experiences, there was a region in the back of the brain that tended to be very active. As if this region were a little more awake,” Francesca Siclari, Sleep Researcher at the University Hospital of Lausanne in Switzerland. She was part of this study.

Hot zone: the opinions

Regarding the theory that this technique can offer us an idea of the contents of dreams, not all opinions agree. Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Stickgold, you don’t believe that detecting dreams will be a result of this research.

Dr. Stickgold believes that Remembered dreams and forgotten dreams are likely to have a different electrical signature.. Although he is of the same opinion as the rest in reference to the fact that the most interesting potential of this research lies in understanding one of the great mysteries that human beings have always pursued: the nature and origin of consciousness.

But the idea that During sleep there are different parts of the brain that act differently It has been a vision shared by many researchers for almost a decade. It was suspected, although there was not enough empirical evidence.

“The power of this technique is that they can focus on this idea of whether local areas or specific regions of the brain are responsible for certain activities, rather than the entire brain being in the depths of sleep.”

-Dr. Danny Eckert from NeuRA (Neuroscience Research Australia)-

Future studies of hot zone

Future studies consider the idea of this type of stimulation in this hot zone in patients in comawith epileptic seizures or under general anesthesia.

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Even everyone agrees that future research could give access to other types of states of consciousness. They also help clarify what other brain regions are involved in different types of states of consciousness. Or perhaps what we discover is in what area and how we connect with Consciousness, in capital letters. It depends on who and how you want to interpret it. A fascinating topic, and whose understanding we seem to get closer to every day.

“These regions appear to offer multisensory integration that is well adapted to support the virtual simulation of a world that characterizes dreams.”

-Dr. Lampros Perogamvros. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Co-author of the study-