6 papers in the library · 41 citations · publishing 1991-2025
Dreaming June 1, 1991 Deirdre Barrett 40 citations
Flying dreams are more common among people who also report lucid dreams, pre-lucid dreams, dreams of sleep, or false awakenings. Analysis of 1910 dreams from 191 subjects showed that when flying and lucidity occur together, lucidity comes first, not the other way around. The relationship may stem from shared psychological and physiological features.
arXiv (Cornell University) July 9, 2023 Anubhab Das, Sanja Šćepanović, Luca Maria Aiello et al. 1 citation
A new data-driven method using natural language processing identifies 217 dream topics grouped into 22 larger themes from 44,213 dream reports posted on Reddit's r/Dreams subreddit. The approach overcomes limitations of traditional dream analysis, which relies on retrospective surveys and lab studies with over 130 scales. The topics were validated against the Hall and van de Castle scale. The method can detect unique patterns in nightmares or recurring dreams, assess topic importance and connections, and track changes in collective dream content over time, including shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war.
EPJ Data Science May 23, 2025 Anubhab Das, Sanja Šćepanović, Luca Maria Aiello et al.
Dreams remain a poorly understood aspect of human life. Traditional methods for analyzing dream content rely on over 130 rating scales and are limited by small samples and retrospective surveys. To address these limitations, researchers used natural language processing to identify topics in 44,213 dream reports from Reddit's r/Dreams subreddit. The analysis uncovered 217 topics grouped into 22 broader themes—the largest collection of dream topics to date. The topics were validated against the established Hall and van de Castle scale.
arXiv Preprint Archive February 2, 2022 Sanja Šćepanović, Luca Maria Aiello, Deirdre Barrett et al.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, dream content reflected waking health concerns, supporting the continuity hypothesis. A deep-learning algorithm extracted medical mentions from 2,888 dream reports and 57 million pandemic-related tweets. Common health expressions in both sets were typical COVID-19 symptoms (cough, fever, anxiety). Distinct expressions revealed different thought processes: waking life described realistic symptoms and disorders (nasal pain, SARS, H1N1), while dreaming life featured surreal or unrelated conditions (maggots, deformities, teeth falling out). The findings suggest dream reports are an underutilized source of real-world health experiences.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences October 1, 2017 Steve Paulson, Deirdre Barrett, Kelly Bulkeley et al.
Dreams may be more than random neural noise; they can offer insights into daily life and deeper self-understanding. A panel of experts—psychologist Deirdre Barrett, dream researcher Kelly Bulkeley, and sleep/dream medicine specialist Rubin Naiman—discussed the origins, functions, and meanings of dreams. They considered whether universal symbols exist across cultures, why some dreams are memorable while others are not, and how wisdom traditions have long treated dreams as sources of revelation. The conversation challenged purely neuroscientific views that dismiss dreams as purposeless, instead exploring their psychological and spiritual significance.
Anubhab Das, Sanja Šćepanović, Luca Maria Aiello et al.
A new data-driven method using natural language processing identified 217 dream topics grouped into 22 larger themes from 44,213 dream reports posted on Reddit's r/dreams subreddit, the most extensive collection of dream topics to date. The topics were validated against the widely-used Hall and van de Castle scale. The method revealed unique patterns in different dream types, such as nightmares and recurring dreams, and showed that indoor location settings were more predominant in Reddit dreams than previously stipulated. It also detected changes in collective dream experiences over time and around major events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war.