Chapter Three. An Example: The Neurodynamics of Dreaming

In this chapter, we illustrate how Luria's method of dynamic localization—which we are recommending is the natural method for rejoining psychoanalysis and neuroscience—works in practice. We have chosen for our example a piece of research that we recently completed into the neurological organization of a subjective mental process that is of special interest to psychoanalysts: the function of dreaming (Solms, 1997a).

In order to lay bare the neurological organization of a complex mental function like dreaming, it is necessary first of all to identify the different ways in which dreaming is disordered by lesions to different parts of the brain, and then to subject these disorders to detailed psychological analysis. As stated in chapter two, Luria called this analytic process the “qualification of the symptom”. It is not enough to state simply that dreaming is disrupted by damage to such-and-such part of the brain; we need to know in exactly what way the psychological structure of dreaming is changed with each lesion. This is done by attempting to isolate the fundamental factor that accounts for the disturbance of function, combined with an analysis of the other mental functions that are disordered along