Study about how position of head influences thoughts

Question

I'm wondering if there are any studies on how (or if) the position of the head changes our thoughts or dreams. Mainly I mean when lying down, as I experienced it is hard to keep the thoughts that where there moments ago when I turn from one side to another in bed. I guess this can be explained by how the blood flows in our brains, that one side gets more blood than the other when lying on your side. But does that mean you could influence your dreams by your sleeping position? Would you react differently to outside influences depending on what your head position is?

I have to mention I have no knowledge at all in these kind of stuff and I'm just asking out of curiosity. Does anyone know about something like this?

Answer 1

Hue,

It sounds like you are interested in a field of research known as embodied cognitive science. It is a fascinating field that looks at how we use our bodies and environments in conjunction with or instead of our brains to complete some cognitive task.

I suggest you start by reading Risko & Gilbert (2016) for a recent review of a phenomenon known as "cognitive offloading" which I think will give you some interesting insights to some of the questions you posed. Evan Risko has done some interesting work on the effects of head tilts on cognition which I think you'll find interesting. If you can't access the article due to the paywall, let me know, and I can send it to you.

Unfortunately, I do not know any research on dreams and such.