Do all mammals dream?

Summary

Dreams occur during human sleep, especially REM sleep, and similar physiological states exist in mammals, raising the question of whether animals experience sleep mentation. Advances in understanding sleep-stage anatomy and physiology allow a better assessment of dream mentation in nonhuman mammals. If dream mentation occurs only during REM sleep, monotremes, cetaceans, and otariid seals at sea likely lack this potential; atypical REM sleep in African elephants and Arabian oryx may alter their potential. If dream mentation occurs during both non-REM and REM sleep, all mammals could experience it, though non-REM mentation may differ in species with atypical sleep, such as aquatic mammals with unihemispheric sleep.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The presence of dreams in human sleep, especially in REM sleep, and the detection of physiologically similar states in mammals has led many to ponder whether animals experience similar sleep mentation. Recent advances in our understanding of the anatomical and physiological correlates of sleep stages, and thus dreaming, allow a better understanding of the possibility of dream mentation in nonhuman mammals. Here, we explore the potential for dream mentation, in both non-REM and REM sleep across mammals. If we take a hard-stance, that dream mentation only occurs during REM sleep, we conclude that it is unlikely that monotremes, cetaceans, and otariid seals while at sea, have the potential to experience dream mentation. Atypical REM sleep in other species, such as African elephants and Arabian oryx, may alter their potential to experience REM dream mentation. Alternatively, evidence that dream mentation occurs during both non-REM and REM sleep, indicates that all mammals have the potential to experience dream mentation. This non-REM dream mentation may be different in the species where non-REM is atypical, such as during unihemispheric sleep in aquatic mammals (cetaceans, sirens, and Otariid seals). In both scenarios, the cetaceans are the least likely mammalian group to experience vivid dream mentation due to the morphophysiological independence of their cerebral hemispheres. The application of techniques revealing dream mentation in humans to other mammals, specifically those that exhibit unusual sleep states, may lead to advances in our understanding of the neural underpinnings of dreams and conscious experiences.