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Freud attributed the primary instigator of dreaming to the “libidinal drive” in his theory. Research support for this classical psychoanalytic theory was provided in Solms's clinico-anatomical studies. He found that damage to the ventromesial frontal pathway caused both global cessation of dreaming and a reduction in motivated behaviour. However, most of the patients in Solms's clinical series were cases of tumor and diffuse injury. These conditions rendered the localization work difficult and imprecise. In view of this, the present study investigated the association between dream cessation and lesions to the ventromesial frontal region in patients who were diagnosed with infarctions. Solms's findings were largely replicated. In addition, results from the present study indicated that compared to the other neural components in the ventromesial frontal pathway, the role of the caudate nucleus appeared to be particularly salient in the functional architecture of dreaming.
Keywords: caudate nucleus, dream cessation, libidinal drive, motivational mesolombic dopaminergic pathway, nucleus accumbens, ventromesial frontal-region infarcts
Cessation of dreaming has long been observed in patients with frontal-lobe lesions (Corda, 1985; Epstein & Simmons, 1983; Gloning & Sternbach, 1953; Piehler, 1950). By using the clinico-anatomical method, Solms (1997) further suggested that global cessation of dreaming was associated with lesions in the white matter immediately surrounding the frontal horns of the lateral ventricles. The white matter of the frontal lobes of the brain just above the eyes contains a large fiber-pathway, which transmits dopamine from the ventral tegmentum to the higher parts of the brain. From this finding, Solms (1995, 1997, 1999, 2000) underscored that the primary function of this brain pathway, which is crucial for the generation of dreams, is to instigate goal-seeking behaviors and an organism's appetitive interactions with the world. In other words, the func