In the Arms of Morpheus: Recent Advances in Dreaming and in Other Sleep-Related Metacognitions

Despite all the significant scientific advances in dream research in the last century, we still do not know why we dream, and why some people remember dreams every day, while others only rarely. Modern theories such as the continuity hypothesis [15], the threatsimulation theory [16], the activation hypothesis [17,18], and neuropsychoanalysis [5] further our understanding of dreaming, but they cannot explain all oneiric features. For this Special Issue, we invited experts in dream research to submit original research articles and review papers. We aimed to provoke and articulate ideas to foster a broad discussion on dream research, and to convey the challenges and misunderstandings in this complex research field. In addition to stimulating the submission of neuroscientific studies, we also encouraged philosophical works, because we believe that this interaction between biomedical and social sciences is fundamental to fostering our understanding of dreams and human consciousness. In all, ten papers—including six original research articles and four review works—were published in this Special Issue.