How Awakenings Shape Dream Recall: A Multilevel Study
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) May 22, 2026 Somayeh Ataei, Mahdad Jafarzade Esfahani, Nikolai Axmacher et al.
Dream recall varies greatly between people and from night to night. Nocturnal awakenings are thought to help encode and retrieve dreams, but it was unclear whether the frequency, duration, sleep stage, or timing of awakenings matters most. Analyzing two cohorts (708 adults across three waves and 124 adults with high dream recall across multiple nights), trait-level dream recall was associated with a specific pattern: more habitual long REM awakenings and short NREM awakenings. State-level analysis showed that nights with more short and medium REM awakenings increased the likelihood of morning dream recall, while more long REM awakenings increased the likelihood of recalling dream content. Findings support arousal-retrieval and functional state-shift models with important nuances.