Empirical investigations that search for a link between dreaming and sleep-dependent memory consolidation have focused on testing for an association between dreaming of what was learned, and improved memory performance for learned material. Empirical support for this is mixed, perhaps owing to the inherent challenges presented by the nature of dreams, and methodological inconsistencies. The...
Until recently, understanding the neurobiology of dreaming has relied upon on correlating a subjective dream report with a measure of brain activity or function sampled from a different occasion. As such, most assumptions about dreaming come from the neuroscience of rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep from which many, but not all, dream reports are recalled. Core features of REM sleep (intense...
Contributions of specific sleep stages to cognitive processes are increasingly understood. Non-REM sleep is particularly implicated in episodic memory consolidation, whilst REM sleep preferentially consolidates and regulates emotional information, and gives rise to creativity and insight. Dream content reflects these processes: non-REM dreams are more likely to picture episodic memories,...
Whilst lucid dreaming (LD) is defined as being aware of dreaming whilst dreaming, a misconception exists in the public domain as a referral to controlling dream content and plot (Neuhäusler et al., 2018). This misconception reflects a number of widely-held beliefs about the nature of dreaming, which in part this commentary will seek to explain and rectify. Furthermore, the aim of this piece is...
The continuity hypothesis (1) posits that there is continuity, of some form, between waking and dreaming mentation. A recent body of work has provided convincing evidence for different aspects of continuity, for instance that some salient experiences from waking life seem to feature in dreams over others, with a particular role for emotional arousal as accompanying these experiences, both...
In this paper we propose an emotion assimilation function of sleep and dreaming. We offer explanations both for the mechanisms by which waking-life memories are initially selected for processing during sleep, and for the mechanisms by which those memories are subsequently transformed during sleep. We propose that emotions act as a marker for information to be selectively processed during sleep,...
This investigation aimed to characterize the personality profile of dream-recallers using a psychometrically-validated measure of dream remembering (the MED-Q) (Horton & Conway, 2009), and considered these relationships in terms of confabulation: the tendency to confuse reality with imaginings and thus create false memories. In Experiment 1, 221 participants completed the MED-Q and a battery of...
Hobson and Schredl’s (2011) discussion on continuity and discontinuity between waking life and dreaming raised important issues about the nature of continuity. We will address several of the points from the debate, drawing on some preliminary data that has been collected investigating the nature of continuity between dreaming and waking. The present commentary will address the following:...
Dream recall is often considered to be poor, although it is rarely systematically compared to the retrieval of waking event memories. A diary paradigm was implemented to explore the memory profile of recalled dreams over time, in comparison to recalled waking experiences. Twenty-five participants completed a dream and waking-event diary over two weeks. Titles of reports were re-presented in a...
Dream recall has been investigated via various means, often relying upon self-report judgments. Such methods, as well as individual differences and cognitive correlates of dream recall, rarely acknowledge models, theory, or empirical work concerning waking memory. Study 1 presents the development and psychometric validation of the Memory Experiences and Dreaming Questionnaire (MED-Q)—a 30-item...
The interference hypothesis (Cohen, 1974; Cohen & Wolfe, 1973) was proposed to account for the difficulties in remembering dreams. Stimuli perceived on waking can either encourage activation of the waking brain or impair the transition from sleep to wake. The objective of the present study was to assess the validity of the interference hypothesis by discriminating between the natural decay of...