Shifting Body Perception: How Amputation Alters Dream Imagery

Abstract

Recent neuroscience advances emphasize the complex relationship between the physical body and dreams during sleep, as these two bodies share many neurological and physiological components. Understanding how significant bodily changes, like amputations, affect dream body perception opens a window to investigate the contribution of memory and somatosensory processing in dream formation. This sleep laboratory PSG study aimed to collect dream reports from amputees through REM awakenings and assess the subjective body perception in their dreams. We compared these results with dream content from two control populations experiencing temporary body perception changes: muscle soreness and electrical muscle stimulation (EMS). The dream reports indicate mixed body perception, both as an intact body and post-amputation, especially in recent amputees. In addition, more temporary changes in body perception, such as those from muscle soreness and EMS, are represented differently in dreams compared to the dreams of amputees. The research suggests recent amputees, who might be more involved in psychological coping with the novel change in body configuration, dream more about their own body, pre- or post-amputation. Amputees’ dreams are less movement- and body-focused compared to the dreams of people with temporary body changes, likely reflecting adaptation to the new body schema over time. This study contributes to ongoing research into the relationship between the physical and dreamed body by further addressing the subjective dream experience of amputees.