Disturbed Dreaming Model

The Disturbed Dreaming Model (DDM) implements Nielsen & Levin's Affect Network Dysfunction model of nightmare production. The key publications are:

• Levin, Ross, and Tore Nielsen. “Nightmares, Bad Dreams, and Emotion Dysregulation: A Review and New Neurocognitive Model of Dreaming.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 18, no. 2 (2009): 84–88.
• Levin, Ross, and Tore A. Nielsen. “Disturbed Dreaming, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Affect Distress: A Review and Neurocognitive Model.” Psychological Bulletin 133, no. 3 (May 2007): 482–528. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.133.3.482.
• Nielsen, Tore, and Ross Levin. “Nightmares: A New Neurocognitive Model.” Sleep Medicine Reviews 11, no. 4 (August 1, 2007): 295–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2007.03.004.

This model's publications include

• Patrick McNamara, Wesley J Wildman, George Hodulik, David Rohr, A neurocomputational theory of nightmares: the role of formal properties of nightmare images, SLEEP Advances, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2021, zpab009, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleepadvances/zpab009

Using the model

Installing AnyLogic

The free personal learning edition of AnyLogic can be installed at https://www.anylogic.com/downloads/personal-learning-edition-download/

Opening the model

Open the .alp file in AnyLogic. The model is contained by the Main agent.

Running the model

We would recommend running one of the Tests_* experiments in order to run the model under various test circumstances. Instructions with image for how to do this are in the word document in the repo. Instructions without pictures are below.

We include several test cases in the AnyLogic DDM model. The test cases are contained in the following AnyLogic experiments:

• Tests_SingleNight: This contains cases over a single night.
• Tests_TwoNights: This contains cases over two nights.
• Tests_ManyNights: This contains cases over many nights. To run the test cases, right-click one of the test simulations and click Run:

Once the simulation is open, you must select a test case by clicking one of the buttons:

The buttons and/or their description will describe the expected behavior of the test case. If you wish to observe the simulation occurring step by step, you must click the “x1” button in the lower left of the simulation window. (You may also wish to slow the simulation down by pressing the slow down button on the bottom left). Finally, the simulation will start when you press the “Run” button, which shows a triangle.