Cognitive Dream Theory: A Structural Model of Dream Function, Architecture, and Phenomenology

This paper introduces Cognitive Dream Theory (CDT), a structurally grounded, computationally compatible, and empirically falsifiable framework for understanding the function and architecture of dreams. Diverging from symbolic and psychoanalytic traditions, CDT proposes that dreams are convergence-seeking simulations powered by vault-based experiential data, regulated by cognitive drift, and modulated by metacognitive access. The theory accounts for dream typology, variability across development and neurodivergence, dream memory phenomena, lucid dreaming, recurrence cessation, and parameter resilience. Drawing upon interdisciplinary evidence from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and computational modeling, we propose a predictive model of dream content formation grounded in probabilistic activation and structurally coherent mechanisms. We demonstrate CDT's explanatory advantages over existing theories by analyzing complex dream phenomena including nightmare recurrence, developmental patterns, and neurodivergent dreaming. The paper concludes with empirical predictions and testing protocols that would validate or falsify the proposed theory. CDT aims to reframe the epistemology of dreaming within the domains of cognitive science, systems theory, and consciousness studies, providing a unified theoretical foundation that bridges subjective experience with objective neural processes.