Review Dreaming and the default network: A review, synthesis, and counterintuitive research proposal G. William Domhoff a,⇑ , Kieran C.R. Fox b a Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA b Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada article info Article history: Received 1 August 2014 Keywords: Dreaming Mind-wandering Sleep-onset process Default network EEG/fMRI abstract This article argues that the default network, augmented by secondary visual and sensori- motor cortices, is the likely neural correlate of dreaming. This hypothesis is based on a synthesis of work on dream content, the findings on the contents and neural correlates of mind-wandering, and the results from EEG and neuroimaging studies of REM sleep. Relying on studies in the 1970s that serendipitously discovered episodes of dreaming during waking mind-wandering, this article presents the seemingly counterintuitive hypothesis that the neural correlates for dreaming could be further specified in the process of carrying out EEG/fMRI studies of mind-wandering and default network activity. This hypothesis could be tested by asking participants for experiential reports during moments of differentially high levels of default network activation, as indicated by mixed EEG/fMRI criteria. Evidence from earlier EEG/fMRI studies of mind-wandering and from laboratory studies of dreaming during the sleep-onset process is used to support the argument. Ó 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction and overview ................................................................................ 343 2. What is dreaming and when does it occur? ................................................................... 343 3. Dreaming while awake ................................................................................... 345 4. An enhanced default network: Dreaming as intensified mind-wandering ........................................... 345 5. Electrophysiological indicators of default network activation..................................................... 348 6. Dreaming at sleep onset .................................................................................. 348 7. A counterintuitive research agenda ......................................................................... 349 Acknowledgments ....................................................................................... 350 References ............................................................................................. 350 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2015.01.019 1053-8100/Ó 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: domhoff@ucsc.edu (G.W. Domhoff). Consciousness and Cognition 33 (2015) 342–353 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Consciousness and Cognition journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/concog