Summary: New research explores why some people vividly remember their dreams and why others have forgotten them. Researchers found that dream recalls are influenced by personality traits, sleep patterns, and even seasonal changes. People who fantasize frequently and have a positive attitude towards their dreams were more likely to remember them.
The lighter sleep stage also increases the likelihood of awakening with dream memories, and younger people recall dreams more frequently than older ones. Findings suggest that dream recalls are shaped by cognitive and physiological factors rather than random. Understanding these mechanisms may provide insight into the role of dreams in mental health and consciousness.
Important facts:
The importance of attitudes and the mind sucking: people who are more frequent with dreams and valued people recall them. .
Source: IMT
Some people can vividly remember dreams from the night and tell the exact stories they experienced in the night, while others struggle to remember one detail. Why does this happen?
The new research conducted by researchers at IMT Advanced Research, published in Communication Psychology, explores factors that influence the so-called “dream recall” (the ability to remember awakening dreams), and the individual characteristics and sleep It reveals what shape the pattern forms. This phenomenon.
The reason why such differences exist in recalling dreams remains a mystery. Some studies have found that women, young people, or those with a tendency to daydream tend to remind them of night dreams.
However, no other studies confirmed these findings. Additionally, other hypotheses, such as personality traits and cognitive abilities, received even less support from the data.
During the recent COVID pandemic, the phenomenon of individual differences in morning dream recalls attracted new public and scientific attention when a rapid surge in morning dream recalls was reported worldwide.
The new study, conducted in collaboration with Camerino University, was conducted between 2020 and 2024, with over 200 participants aged 18 to 70, and sleep and cognitive data daily for 15 days I recorded my dreams. Tracked using wearable devices and psychometric tests.
Each study participant was given a voice recorder that reported daily about his sleep experiences immediately after awakening.
Participants were given the impression that they had dreamed, but did not remember anything about their experience, and if they remembered it, would they explain the content of their dreams? I had to report what you were saying.
During the study, participants also wore Actigraph, a sleep watch watch that detects sleep duration, efficiency, and disorder.
At the beginning and end of the dream recording period, participants were exposed to psychological tests and questionnaires measuring various factors from anxiety levels to dream, interest in mind, and mind (objectives of the eyes) From tasks to frequently change attention from irrelevant thoughts, or towards internal reflections), to memory and selective attention tests.
Dream recall, defined as the probability of waking up in the morning with impressions and memories from dream experiences, showed considerable variation among individuals and was influenced by multiple factors.
This study revealed that people who are more likely to be positive about their dreams and protect their minds are very likely to remember their dreams. Sleep patterns also appeared to play an important role. Individuals who experienced lighter sleep for longer periods were more likely to wake up with dream memories.
Young participants showed a higher percentage of dream recalls, while older people often experienced “white dreams” (the feeling of dreaming without recalling the details). This suggests age-related changes in memory processes during sleep.
Additionally, seasonal variations emerge, with participants reporting lower dream recalls during winter compared to spring, suggesting potential effects of environmental or circadian factors.
“Our findings suggest that dream recalls are not merely a matter of coincidence, but rather reflect how personal attitudes, cognitive traits and sleep dynamics interact.” explains Giulio Bernardi, a professor of general psychology at IMT Schools.
“These insights not only improve our understanding of the mechanisms behind dreams, but also influence our exploration of the role of dreams in the study of mental health and human consciousness.”
“The data collected within this project serves as a reference for future comparisons with clinical populations,” adds Valentina Elce, researcher at IMT School and the first author of the study.
“This will advance research into the pathological changes of dreams and their potential prognostic and diagnostic value.”
About this dream and neuroscience research news
Author: Chiara Palmerini
Source: IMT
Contact: Chiara Palmerini – IMT
Image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Open access.
Communication psychology, “Individual Determinants of Morning Dream Recalls,” by Giulio Bernardi et al.
Abstract
Individual determinants of morning dream recalls
The evidence suggests that (almost) everyone dreams while sleeping, and may in fact do so for the majority of the night. However, dream recalls show significant interpersonal variability. Understanding the factors that influence dream recall is important to promote knowledge about the origin, importance and function of dreams.
Here we addressed this issue by collecting dream reports in a positive way with demographic information, psychometrics, cognitive, actigraphic, and EEG measurements in 217 healthy adults (ages 18-70; 116 female participants and 101 male participants).
We found that dreamy attitudes, attitudes to compassion, and sleep patterns were associated with the probability of reporting dreams in morning wake-up.
The likelihood of recalling the content of a dream was predicted by age and vulnerability to interference. Furthermore, dream recalls appeared to be affected by night-to-night changes in sleep patterns, showing seasonal variation.
Our results provide an explanation of previous observations regarding interpersonal and intrapersonal variation in morning dream recalls.
