Journal of Sleep Research
April 13, 2022
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
64 citations
Dream research has moved beyond the simple REM-NREM sleep dichotomy to focus on specific brain features that predict dreaming. Trait-like factors (stable personal characteristics) and state-like factors (electrophysiological activity just before awakening) both influence dream recall. Dreaming connects to waking life: the continuity hypothesis suggests dreams can be modulated by sensory stimulations. Parasomnia episodes may offer direct access to dream content, as recent findings show greater concordance between such events and dream narratives. Nightmares and oneiric activity hold potential clinical value in psychotherapy. Future work needs uniform protocols, advanced manipulation techniques, clarification of parasomnia-dream links, and determination of dreams' clinical relevance.
Journal of Sleep Research
February 1, 2022
Serena Scarpelli, Maurizio Gorgoni, Valentina Alfonsi et al.
37 citations
During the Italian COVID-19 lockdown, 90 participants kept a sleep-dream diary for two weeks: the first week under full lockdown and the second week after restrictions eased. Compared to post-lockdown, the lockdown period was associated with more awakenings, greater difficulty falling asleep, higher dream recall, and more frequent lucid dreams. After restrictions eased, participants reported more dreams about being in crowded places. Poorer sleep quality during lockdown aligns with earlier findings. The increase in lucid dreams during confinement may reflect an attempt to cope with pandemic experiences, while the crowded-place dreams after lockdown support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming.
Brain Sciences
February 11, 2021
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
27 citations
Dream research has advanced significantly over the last twenty years through neuroimaging and electrophysiological techniques. Mental activity during sleep and wakefulness shares similar neural bases. Dream experience is promoted by brain activation with reduced low frequencies and increased rapid frequencies. The posterior parietal area and prefrontal cortex are responsible for dream experience. Dreaming can be manipulated by sensory stimulations that incorporate specific cues into dream scenarios. Transcranial stimulation techniques have modulated consciousness during sleep, adding information about neural correlates of dream recall. The continuity and activation hypotheses provide growing understanding of neural processes underlying dreaming, but issues remain regarding state-/trait-like variables, circadian and homeostatic factors, and parasomnia-like events.
Brain Sciences
October 20, 2021
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
23 citations
During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, people reported lower dream recall, fewer nightmares, less frequent lucid dreams, and reduced emotional intensity in dreams compared to the first wave. Dreams during the second wave had a more negative tone. Changes in dream frequency between the two waves were linked to post-traumatic growth, sleep-related PTSD symptoms, and sleep quality. Emotional features of dreams correlated with pandemic-related factors such as job changes, forced quarantine, having infected relatives or friends, and seeking mental health help. The findings partly support the continuity hypothesis, which links dream content to waking experiences.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2021
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Anita D'Anselmo et al.
18 citations
During the Italian COVID-19 lockdown, people with narcolepsy type-1 (NT1) reported more lucid dreams than matched controls, and those lucid dreams were linked to greater creativity and problem-solving during waking hours. The study compared 43 NT1 patients with 86 controls. NT1 patients had higher sleepiness, while controls had more sleep disturbances—a difference that disappeared after accounting for medication. Among NT1 patients, nightmare frequency correlated with female gender, longer sleep, and more wakefulness within sleep; dream recall, nightmares, and lucid dreams all correlated with sleepiness. The findings confirm a connection between lucidity and creativity in NT1 but cannot establish causality due to the small sample and cross-sectional design.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
March 24, 2022
Maurizio Gorgoni, Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi et al.
7 citations
Dream activity significantly shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a sample of 108 participants revealing reduced dream frequency from 43% during total lockdown to 22% post-lockdown. Emotional intensity and vividness also declined, with fear remaining the dominant emotion in dreams (26.9% at lockdown, 22.2% post-lockdown). Despite improved sleep latency and fewer PTSD-related disruptions post-lockdown, poor sleep quality and high anxiety persisted. These findings suggest that the pandemic's emotional toll continues to shape our dreams, supporting the continuity hypothesis.
Nature and Science of Sleep
January 1, 2023
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Milena Camaioni et al.
3 citations
Dream recall, nightmares, lucid dreams, and emotional intensity all decreased between the first and third waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in a large Italian sample. People whose general psychological distress improved during that period reported fewer nightmares and less nightmare distress than those whose distress stayed the same or worsened. Poor sleep hygiene was a strong predictor of nightmare distress among the group that did not improve. The findings suggest that people adapted to the pandemic over time and that nightmares are closely tied to well-being, with both stable traits (age, sex) and sleep-related factors influencing nightmare features.
Nature and Science of Sleep
January 1, 2025
Serena Scarpelli, Marta Spinoni, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
1 citation
Pregnant women in their first trimester experience fewer nightmares than non-pregnant counterparts, with 100 participants in each group revealing significant differences. While only 23% of pregnant women reported frequent nightmares, this contrasts sharply with 43% in the control group. Additionally, those with depressive symptoms and greater dream engagement were more likely to have nightmares. The findings suggest that hormonal changes during gestation may reduce oneiric activity, supporting the continuity hypothesis that links depression with nightmare frequency.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
August 1, 2024
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Luigi De Gennaro et al.
Pregnancy is linked to changes in sleep and dreaming. A systematic review of 17 studies found that pregnant women tend to report more dreams and nightmares, and high dream recall is associated with poor sleep quality. Most dream content relates to pregnancy, reflecting waking concerns. Dreaming may help women psychologically prepare for childbirth and develop coping strategies for life after delivery.
Journal of Sleep Research
June 1, 2023
Elisabetta Fasiello, Serena Scarpelli, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) involves the loss of muscle paralysis during REM sleep, causing people to act out dreams, which are often vivid and violent. This review systematically examines studies on dream recall in RBD, using both retrospective and prospective designs, to provide a comprehensive overview of qualitative and quantitative dream features. The work highlights that studying dreaming in RBD helps understand unique aspects of the disorder and reveals neurobiological, electrophysiological, and cognitive mechanisms of REM sleep and dreaming.
Journal of Clinical Medicine
October 28, 2022
Elisabetta Fasiello, Serena Scarpelli, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) involves the loss of normal muscle paralysis during REM sleep, causing people to act out their dreams. Patients with RBD report high dream recall frequency and vivid, often violent dream content. Isolated RBD (iRBD) is recognized as an early sign of neurodegeneration, often preceding α-synucleinopathies like Parkinson's disease. This narrative review synthesizes evidence on dream activity in RBD, compares it with other non-REM parasomnias, and examines how dream features in RBD associated with α-synucleinopathies might clarify the role of dreams in neurodegenerative processes.
Brain Sciences
June 3, 2020
Serena Scarpelli, Aurora D'Atri, Chiara Bartolacci et al.
Among older adults, those who recall dreams show higher cortical arousal during NREM sleep than those who do not. In a study of 20 elders, dream recallers had lower delta power over parietal areas and higher activation index (delta/beta power) in fronto-temporal and parieto-occipital regions compared to non-recallers. No differences appeared in the last five minutes before awakening. Visual vividness and dream length correlated positively with arousal level. The findings support the activation hypothesis, which links dream recall to brain arousal, and highlight the temporo-parietal-occipital zone as crucial for storing dream content.
Nature and Science of Sleep
January 1, 2020
Serena Scarpelli, Chiara Bartolacci, Aurora D'Atri et al.
Dream recall is associated with higher brain activation during REM sleep, regardless of the time of night. Theta, delta, and beta EEG bands were analyzed in 10 subjects who underwent multiple awakenings during REM sleep across the night. Results showed no significant effect of time of night or interaction, but significant differences in beta band activity over the occipital area and in the delta/beta activation index over the parietal area. These findings support the activation-hypothesis, which links dream recall to desynchronized EEG activity, and suggest that such recall is related to state-like factors rather than homeostatic pressure.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2019
Serena Scarpelli, Chiara Bartolacci, Aurora D'Atri et al.
Dream experience is linked to emotional processes and the inner world. REM sleep plays a key role in processing emotional waking-life experiences and consolidating emotional memories. Neuroimaging studies show that neural substrates regulating dreaming and emotional salience in sleep mentation overlap with those controlling emotions during wakefulness. REM theta oscillations are crucial for emotional re-processing and memory processes during REM sleep, while gamma activity relates to emotional processes, dream recall, and lucid dreams. In clinical samples, similar EEG correlates appear with nightmares or dreams. Rehearsing frightening content to change it is a promising treatment for nightmares, and lucid dreams attenuate nightmares.
Frontiers in Neurology
January 1, 2019
Serena Scarpelli, Aurora D'Atri, Chiara Bartolacci et al.
Frontal theta oscillations during the last five minutes of REM sleep predict whether older adults will recall a dream upon waking, replicating a pattern previously established in young adults. In a study of 21 healthy older volunteers (mean age 69.2) and 20 young adults (mean age 23.4), dream recall occurred when REM sleep showed rhythmic frontal theta activity. No interaction between age and recall status was found, indicating the same brain activity supports dream recall in both age groups. Theta oscillations were more abundant in young participants, and the authors distinguish this rhythmic theta from non-rhythmic theta linked to sleepiness or clinical cortical slowing.
Brain Topography
September 1, 2017
Serena Scarpelli, Aurora D'Atri, Anastasia Mangiaruga et al.
Dream recall upon awakening from NREM sleep is predicted by reduced delta activity in left frontal and temporo-parietal areas during the final segment of sleep. This finding suggests that increased cortical activation is a prerequisite for remembering dreams from NREM sleep, challenging the traditional view that dreaming is unique to REM sleep. The study used a multiple nap protocol and within-subjects design to collect dream reports after stage 2 NREM sleep awakenings. The results indicate that the brain mechanisms underlying dream recall during NREM sleep may share features with those involved in encoding episodic memories during wakefulness, though they also depend on the specific electrophysiological state of sleep.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Serena Scarpelli, Aurora D'Atri, Maurizio Gorgoni et al.
Dream recall is predicted by theta (5-8 Hz) EEG oscillations over frontal regions just before awakening, paralleling the role of theta activity in successful episodic memory retrieval during wakefulness. This continuity suggests shared neurophysiological mechanisms between encoding and retrieval of episodic memories across sleep and wakefulness. REM sleep shows limbic activation and prefrontal deactivation, which may explain emotional dream content. Amygdala and hippocampus morphoanatomical measures predict dream bizarreness, vividness, and emotional load. Existing evidence cannot definitively determine whether this theta-dream recall relation reflects state- or trait-like differences.
Frontiers in Psychology
January 1, 2015
Serena Scarpelli, Cristina Marzano, Aurora D'Atri et al.
Dream recall after REM sleep is linked to higher frontal theta oscillations, a brain rhythm also involved in encoding memories while awake. In six healthy subjects awakened from afternoon naps, theta activity in the frontal cortex was greater before a remembered dream than before a forgotten one, though only the measure of sustained theta oscillations reached statistical significance. The findings support the idea that dream recall depends on the momentary brain state during sleep rather than on a fixed individual trait.
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
May 4, 2011
Cristina Marzano, Michele Ferrara, Federica Mauro et al.
Dream recall after awakening is linked to specific brain oscillations that differ between REM and NREM sleep. After REM sleep, higher frontal theta activity (5-7 Hz) predicts successful dream recall, mirroring the brain activity seen when encoding episodic memories while awake. After stage 2 NREM sleep, lower alpha activity (8-12 Hz) in the right temporal area predicts successful recall. These findings suggest that the neurophysiological mechanisms for encoding and recalling episodic memories may be consistent across different states of consciousness.