Mark Blagrove Explained

Mark Thomas Blagrove
Nationality:British
Occupation:Professor of Psychology;
Director of the Swansea University Sleep Laboratory
Website:Profile at Swansea University
Education:The Windsor Boys' School

MA, Natural Sciences, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University;
PhD, Brunel University London
Thesis Title:The narrative of dream reports
Thesis Url:https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/5147
Thesis Year:1989
Doctoral Advisor:Kuper, A; Hudson, L; Wright, M
Discipline:Psychology
Sub Discipline:Sleep and cognition
Workplaces:Research Fellow, Loughborough University;
Lecturer / Senior Lecturer / Reader / Professor, Swansea University
Main Interests:Research into sleep, dreaming, memory, learning, and REM sleep

Mark Blagrove is a British research psychologist who specializes in the study of sleep and dreams.[1] [2]

He is a professor of psychology at Swansea University in Wales,[1] [2] and is Director of the Swansea University Sleep Laboratory.[3] [4] [5]

Education

From 1979 to 1982, Blagrove studied for an MA in Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University in England.[1] He then went on to obtain a PhD in 1989 at Brunel University London, where he published a doctoral thesis titled "The narrative of dream reports".[6] In 2019-2020, Blagrove gained a Graduate Certificate in Humanistic and Psychodynamic Counselling from Goldsmiths, University of London.[7]

Career

From 1989 to 1991, Blagrove was a research fellow at Loughborough University in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences.[1]

Since 1991, Blagrove has worked at Swansea University in Wales, initially as a lecturer, then senior lecturer, reader, and finally professor of psychology. He specializes in the study of "the relationship between sleep and cognition, including effects of sleep loss, memory consolidation functions of sleep, causes and possible functions of dreaming, nightmares, and lucid dreams."[1]

Blagrove is Director of the Swansea University Sleep Laboratory, which "investigates sleep, dreaming, and what happens when people are deprived of sleep."[4]

He is a past President of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD),[8] [9] a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a Consulting Editor for the journal Dreaming, published by the American Psychological Association on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Dreams.[10]

Selected research

Suggestibility

An early study by Blagrove in 1996 showed that sleep deprivation causes a trend for greater suggestibility during interrogation. That is, they "have reduced cognitive ability or motivation to discriminate and detect discrepancies between original and misleading information."[11] [12]

Sensory processing sensitivity

In humans, high sensory processing sensitivity refers to greater responsivity to stimuli, slower, deeper processing, aesthetic sensitivity, and low threshold for sensory discomfort.[13] It is measured by the highly sensitive person scale.[13] Blagrove and colleagues have shown that score on the HSPS correlates significantly with ability to detect spoken words that are present but degraded in auditory stimuli.[13] Sensory processing sensitivity has been shown by Blagrove and colleagues to be a predisposing factor for nightmares.[14]

Lucid dreaming

Blagrove has shown personality and cognitive characteristics of people who frequently have lucid dreams,[15] [16] [17] and addressed the possibility of using training to increase individuals' frequency of lucid dreaming.[18] However, Soffer–Dudek’s review of lucid dreaming research, which included the personality findings above, concluded that there may be possible adverse effects of lucid dreaming and of induction of lucid dreaming.[19]

Dream-lag

One of Blagrove's series of findings concerns the "dream-lag effect". A study in 2011 "investigates evidence, from dream reports, for memory consolidation during sleep".[20] A second study in 2015 shows that "incorporation of details from waking life events into rapid eye movement sleep dreams has been found to be highest on the night after, and then 5–7 nights after events (termed, respectively, the day-residue and dream-lag effects).".[21] A third study into the "dream-lag effect" in 2019 was "the first to categorize types of waking life experiences and compare their incorporation into dreams across multiple successive nights." The chosen categories were: major daily activities (such as going to work or university, meals and shopping); personally significant events (such as emotional events); and major concerns (such as money problems or exam stress), and participants were asked to maintain diary entries both for these categories of waking experience, accompanying emotion and its intensity, and to record their dreams. The study found that "personally significant events persist, but not major daily activities or concerns."[22]

Dreaming, metaphor, insight, and memory consolidation

A study by Blagrove in 2013 looks into largely-anecdotal claims that "dreams can be a source of personal insight", and finds tangential support for the "facilitative effect of sleep on cognitive insight" and of REM sleep on emotional memory consolidation, and for the emergence of insight from the metaphorical representations of waking life found in dreams.[23]

Another study in 2015 also showed theoretical support for such claims, finding that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep plays a role in the "consolidation of emotional memories and the creative formation of connections between new and older memories."[24]

A third study in 2020, assessing Exploration-Insight scores (a measure of Gains in Dream Interpretation proposed in 1996 by Clara Hill in Working with Dreams in Psychotherapy)[25] following discussion of REM dreams, non-REM dreams, and daydreams, suggests that "insight might be produced by embodied and metaphorical thinking in dreams."[26]

Whereas Blagrove had found evidence for memory consolidation being promoted by sleep[27] and by dreaming,[28] he and Lockheart later suggested that dreaming might only have a function after sleep, when the dreams are shared with others.[29] Dreams would thus be fictions produced while asleep, but which only have an effect and significance when recalled and shared after waking.[30] This approach was expanded on in Blagrove and Lockheart (2023) The Science and Art of Dreaming,[31] in Psyche magazine (2024),[32] and in The Psychologist (2024),[33] a publication of the British Psychological Society.

DreamsID

DreamsID (short for "dreams illustrated and discussed" or "dreams interpreted and drawn") is a practical, collaborative project between artist Julia Lockheart and Blagrove.[3] [34] They hold 60 – 90 minute sessions with the dream subject and an invited audience, and while the subject shares their dream, with Blagrove helping to facilitate and visualize the dream narrative, Lockheart draws and paints the dream, in real-time, on a torn-out page from Sigmund Freud's book, The Interpretation of Dreams, to create "a tapestry of elements, plot, metaphoric imagery, and Freud's words."[9] This follows a Dadaist and surrealist performance aesthetic (Lockheart et al., 2021). Then, later in the session, the audience is invited to join in the discussion, referencing the dream to waking life, according to the method devised by psychiatrist Montague Ullman.[3] [9] [35] [36]

In the course of the sessions, Lockheart and Blagrove began to notice that the sharing of the dreams and the discussions were having an effect not only on them but on some of the audience, and that the sessions were invoking empathy toward the subjects sharing their dreams. As a result of this, the collaborators went on to co-author an important scientific paper, "Testing the Empathy Theory of Dreaming: The Relationships Between Dream Sharing and Trait and State Empathy", which was later published in Frontiers in Psychology.[9] [35]

As well as being an artist, Julia Lockheart is an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London,[9] [37] and a Professor at Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.[3] [9] [38] Her own research includes "languaging within metadesign and the relationship between writing and collaboration in arts education."[9]

In April 2019, the BBC World Service Television programme CrowdScience broadcast a segment in which Lockheart is shown painting as a candidate shares her dream.[39]

In October 2020 and January 2021, Blagrove and Lockheart[40] [41] held online events to commemorate the 120th anniversaries of Sigmund Freud's patient Dora telling two dreams to Freud. The first dream was of being rescued from a burning house by her father, the second was of travelling to her father's funeral.[42] The aim of the events was to discuss with expert panel and worldwide audience how Dora’s two dreams could be related to her distressing family circumstances[40] [43] The two dreams were painted by Lockheart during the discussions.[40]

In June 2023 Blagrove and Lockheart held an event at the C. G. Jung Institute, Zürich, in Küsnacht, Switzerland,[44] as part of the conference marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Institute.[45] In recognition of the Dadaist influence on the DreamsID collaboration, in July 2023 Blagrove and Lockheart held an event at the Cabaret Voltaire, Zürich.[46] Cabaret Voltaire was the birthplace of Dadaism in 1916.[47]

Publications

Books

Articles in journals

Blagrove has authored or co-authored over 50 academic and research papers, published in peer reviewed scientific journals, during his career:[1] [49] [50] [51]

Other articles

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Staff . Professor Mark Blagrove . . 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200420165749/https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/human-and-health-sciences/psychology/m.t.blagrove/ . 20 April 2020 . live . 20 April 2020.
  2. Blagrove. Mark. Kasia Madera. Coronavirus dreams. BBC Outside Source. BBC World Service. London. 7 April 2020. 24 April 2020.
  3. Web site: Griffiths . Megan . These people are uncovering the secrets of our dreams . . 24 July 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200424105728/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/people-uncovering-secrets-dreams-13367833 . 24 April 2020 . live . 24 April 2020.
  4. Web site: Staff . The Swansea University Sleep Lab . . 2000 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200421131300/https://www.swansea.ac.uk/psychology/research-at-the-department-of-psychology/swansea-university-psychology-sleep-lab/ . 21 April 2020 . live . 21 April 2020.
  5. Web site: Staff . BBC World Service - Newsday, Why are we dreaming more under coronavirus lockdown? . . . 7 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200425190749/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p088v5lt . 25 April 2020 . live . 25 April 2020.
  6. Blagrove . Mark Thomas . The narrative of dream reports . . 1989 . 20 April 2020. Thesis .
  7. Web site: Staff . Professor Mark Blagrove – Swansea University . . 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210511164022/https://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/human-and-health-sciences/psychology/blagrove-m/ . 11 May 2021 . live . 11 May 2021.
  8. Web site: Staff . Who's Who in IASD . International Association for the Study of Dreams . 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200421160846/https://www.asdreams.org/who-is-who/ . 21 April 2020 . live . 21 April 2020.
  9. Web site: Lockheart . Julia . Blagrove . Mark . Dream Sharing . . Sublime Magazine Ltd. . 2 November 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200421132637/https://sublimemagazine.com/dream-sharing . 21 April 2020 . live . 21 April 2020.
  10. Web site: Staff . Dreaming . . 2020 . 21 April 2020.
  11. Web site: Staff . Effects of length of sleep deprivation on interrogative suggestibility . . . 2020 . 21 April 2020.
  12. Blagrove . Mark . Effects of Length of Sleep Deprivation on Interrogative Suggestibility . . 2 . 1 . 48–59 . . 1 March 1996 . 10.1037/1076-898X.2.1.48 . 21 April 2020.
  13. Williams . J. . Carr . M. . Blagrove . M. . Sensory Processing Sensitivity: Associations with the detection of real degraded stimuli, and reporting of illusory stimuli and paranormal experiences . Personality and Individual Differences . 177 . Elsevier . July 2021 . 110807 . 11 May 2021 . 10.1016/j.paid.2021.110807. 233567292 .
  14. Carr . M. . Matthews . E. . Williams . J. . Blagrove . M. . Testing the theory of Differential Susceptibility to nightmares: The interaction of Sensory Processing Sensitivity with the relationship of low mental wellbeing to nightmare frequency and nightmare distress . Journal of Sleep Research . 30 . 3 . e13200 . 2021 . 10.1111/jsr.13200. 32985043 . free .
  15. Blagrove . M. . Tucker . M. . Individual differences in locus of control and the reporting of lucid dreaming . . 16 . 6 . 981–984 . 1994 . 10.1016/0191-8869(94)90242-9.
  16. Blagrove . M. . Hartnell . S. J. . Lucid dreaming: Associations with internal locus of control, need for cognition and creativity. Personality and Individual Differences . . 28 . 1 . 41–47 . 2000 . 10.1016/S0191-8869(99)00078-1 .
  17. Blagrove . M. . Bell . E. . Wilkinson . A. . Association of lucid dreaming frequency with Stroop task performance . . 20 . 4 . 280–287 . 2010 . 10.1037/a0020881 .
  18. Carr . M. . Konkoly . K. . Mallett . R. . Edwards . C. . Appel . K. . Blagrove . M. . Combining presleep cognitive training and REM-sleep stimulation in a laboratory morning nap for lucid dream induction . Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice . 7 . 4 . 413–430 . . 2020 . 10.1037/cns0000227 . 218801845.
  19. Soffer–Dudek . N. . Are lucid dreams good for us? Are we asking the right question? A call for caution in lucid dream research . . 13 . 1423 . 2019 . 10.3389/fnins.2019.01423. free . 6993576 .
  20. Blagrove . M. . Fouquet . N. . Henley-Einion . J. . Pace-Schott . E. . Davies . A. . Neuschaffer . J. . Turnbull . O. . Assessing the Dream-Lag Effect for REM and NREM Stage 2 Dreams . . 6 . 10 . e26708 . . 2011 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0026708 . 22046336 . 3202556 . 2011PLoSO...626708B . 20 April 2020. free .
  21. van Rijn . E. . Eichenlaub . J. . Lewis . P. . Walker . M. . Gaskell . M. . Malinowski . J. . Blagrove . M. . The dream-lag effect: Selective processing of personally significant events during Rapid Eye Movement sleep, but not during Slow Wave Sleep . . 122 . 98–109 . . 2015 . 10.1016/j.nlm.2015.01.009 . 25683202 . 20 April 2020. free .
  22. Eichenlaub . J. . van Rijn . E. . Phelan . M. . Ryder . L. . Gaskell . M. . Lewis . P. . Walker . M. . Blagrove . M. . The nature of delayed dream incorporation ('dream-lag effect'): Personally significant events persist, but not major daily activities or concerns . Journal of Sleep Research . 28 . 1 . e12697– . European Sleep Research Society . 2019 . 10.1111/jsr.12697 . 29682834 . 6849581 . 20 April 2020.
  23. Edwards . C. . Ruby . P. . Malinowski . J. . Bennett . P. . Blagrove . M. . Dreaming and insight . Frontiers in Psychology . 4 . 979 . . 2013 . 979 . 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00979 . 24550849 . 3872037 . 20 April 2020. free .
  24. Edwards . C. . Malinowski . J. . McGee . S. . Bennett . P. . Ruby . P. . Blagrove . M. . Comparing personal insight gains due to consideration of a recent dream and consideration of a recent event using the Ullman and Schredl dream group methods . . 6 . 831 . . 2015 . 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00831 . 26150797 . 4471350 . 20 April 2020. free .
  25. Book: Hill , C. E. . Working with Dreams in Psychotherapy . . 17 July 1996 . . 1572300922.
  26. Blagrove . M. . Edwards . C. . van Rijn . E. . Reid . A. . Malinowski . J. . Bennett . P. . Carr . M. . Eichenlaub . J. . McGee . S. . Evans . K. . Ruby . P. . Insight from the consideration of REM dreams, non-REM dreams, and daydreams . Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice . 6 . 2 . 138–162 . . 2020 . 10.1037/cns0000167 . 150016493 . 20 April 2020.
  27. van Rijn . E. . Lucignoli . C. . Izura . C. . Blagrove . M. . Sleep-dependent memory consolidation is related to perceived value of learned material . Journal of Sleep Research . 26 . 3 . 302–308 . European Sleep Research Society . 2017 . 10.1111/jsr.12457 . 27634632 . 20 April 2020 . free.
  28. Eichenlaub . J. . van Rijn . E. . Phelan . M. . Ryder . L. . Gaskell . M. . Lewis . P. . Walker . M. . Blagrove . M. . The nature of delayed dream incorporation ('dream-lag effect'): Personally significant events persist, but not major daily activities or concerns . Journal of Sleep Research . 28 . 1 . e12697– . European Sleep Research Society . 2019 . 10.1111/jsr.12697 . 29682834 . 6849581 . 20 April 2020.
  29. Blagrove . M. . Hale . S. . Lockheart . J. . Julia Lockheart . Carr . M. . Jones . A. . Valli . K. . Testing the Empathy Theory of Dreaming: The Relationships Between Dream Sharing and Trait and State Empathy . . 10 . 1351 . . 2019 . 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01351 . 31281278 . 6596280 . 20 April 2020 . free.
  30. Blagrove . Mark . Lockheart . Julia . Dream-sharing and human self-domestication . International Journal of Dream Research . 15 . 1 . 86–94 . April 2022 . 10.11588/ijodr.2022.1.83442 . 11 April 2022.
  31. Book: Blagrove . Mark . Mark Blagrove . Lockheart . Julia . Julia Lockheart . The Science and Art of Dreaming . . 10 February 2023 . (Hardcover), (Paperback)
  32. Web site: Blagrove . Mark . Jarrett . Christian . The reason we dream might be to bring us closer together . Psyche . 11 January 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240118054953/https://psyche.co/ideas/the-reason-we-dream-might-be-to-bring-us-closer-together . 18 January 2024 . live . 3 February 2024.
  33. Web site: Blagrove . Mark . Does dreaming have a function? . . 15 March 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240317130052/https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/does-dreaming-have-function . 17 March 2024 . live . 17 March 2024.
  34. Web site: Staff . DreamsID.com – Home . DreamsID.com . 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200507094024/https://dreamsid.com/index.html . 7 May 2020 . live . 7 May 2020.
  35. Blagrove . Mark . Hale . Sioned . Lockheart . Julia . Carr . Michelle . Jones . Alex . Valli . Katja . Testing the Empathy Theory of Dreaming: The Relationships Between Dream Sharing and Trait and State Empathy . . 10 . 1351 . . 20 June 2019 . 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01351 . 31281278 . 6596280 . free .
  36. Web site: Carr . Michelle . Your Dreams: Interpreted and Drawn . . John Thomas / Sussex Publishers . 14 August 2017 . 22 April 2020.
  37. Web site: Staff . Julia Lockheart: Goldsmiths, University of London . . 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200422112302/https://www.gold.ac.uk/design/people/lockheart-julia/ . 22 April 2020 . live . 22 April 2020.
  38. Web site: Staff . Prof Julia Margaret Lockheart PhD, MA, BA: Head of Contextual Practices . . 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230904100730/https://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/staff/julia-lockheart/ . 4 September 2023 . live . 4 September 2023.
  39. Web site: Staff . BBC World Service - CrowdScience, What are dreams for?, Marnie's dream captured on canvas . CrowdScience . . 5 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200422131133/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p075lxhm . 22 April 2020 . live . 22 April 2020.
  40. Lockheart . Julia . Blagrove . Mark . DreamsID events: Painting of the two dreams that Dora told Freud . DreamTime Magazine . 35 . International Association for the Study of Dreams . Spring 2021 . PDF . 11 May 2021 .
  41. Lockheart . Julia . Holzinger . Brigitte . Katharina . Adler . Barrett . Deirdre . Nobus . Dany . Wessely . Zora . Blagrove . Mark . 120th anniversary event for 'Dora' telling her burning house dream to Freud . International Journal of Dream Research . 14 . 2 . 202–208 . 2021 . 10.11588/ijodr.2021.2.77283 . 3 June 2021.
  42. Book: Freud , Sigmund . Sigmund Freud

    . Sigmund Freud . The Pelican Freud Library, Vol. 8 (orig. 1905): Fragments of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria ("Dora") . Penguin Books . 1977 . 0140217428.

  43. Book: Decker , H.S. . Freud, Dora, and Vienna 1900 . . 1991 . New York . 0140217428.
  44. Web site: Staff . Mark Balgrove & Julia Lockheart: Dreams Illustrated and Discussed . . 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230904101550/https://2023emotionsconference.ch/blagrove-and-lockheart/ . 4 September 2023 . live . 4 September 2023.
  45. Web site: Staff . Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Emotions and their Impact: International Conference . . 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230904102043/https://2023emotionsconference.ch/ . 4 September 2023 . live . 4 September 2023.
  46. Web site: Staff . Cabaret Voltaire: Dream Salon . . 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230904102413/https://www.cabaretvoltaire.ch/#node-80648-en . 4 September 2023 . live . 4 September 2023.
  47. Web site: Staff . Cabaret Voltaire: Dadaism . . 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230904102413/https://www.cabaretvoltaire.ch/#node-69-en . 4 September 2023 . live . 4 September 2023.
  48. Book: Staff . The Science and Art of Dreaming, 1st Edition . 2023 . Routledge, Taylor & Francis . 978-0367479947 .
  49. Web site: Staff . Mark BLAGROVE: MA, PhD, FBPsS: Swansea University, Swansea: SWAN: Department of Psychology . . 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200420170445/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mark_Blagrove . 20 April 2020 . live . 20 April 2020.
  50. Web site: Staff . Mark Blagrove (0000-0002-9854-1854) . . 2020 . 20 April 2020.
  51. Web site: Blagrove . Mark . Mark Blagrove: Swansea University - Academia.edu . . 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200420171101/https://swansea.academia.edu/MarkBlagrove . 20 April 2020 . live . 20 April 2020.

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