22 papers in the library · 35 citations · publishing 2009-2026
International Journal of Dream Research September 30, 2026 Michael Schredl
Sigmund Freud is often cited with his ideas to interpret a variety of dream symbols as being sexual. As erections occur regularly during REM sleep that is associated with vivid dream recall, the question arises whether Freud’s ideas about the sexual meaning of dreams might be related to this physiology.
International Journal of Dream Research September 23, 2026 Mark Blagrove
From December 2024 to October 2025, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem presented Lucid Dreams, an interdisciplinary exhibition marking the centenary of Surrealism and of André Breton’s Manifesto of Surrealism (1924). Curated by Adina Kamien, the exhibition brought together some 180 works and objects, including Surrealist and contemporary art, dream- and sleep-related multicultural, religious and...
International Journal of Dream Research August 25, 2026 Michael Schredl
Erotic dreams are quite common, however, measuring the frequency of such a private topic faces some challenges. First, not every participant might be comfortable to report erotic dreams in dream diary, thus, the frequency of erotic dreams might be underestimations. On the other hand, retrospective measures regarding the frequency of erotic dreams might yield overestimations as erotic dreams are...
International Journal of Dream Research August 21, 2026 Emma Peters, Daniel Erlacher, Clarita Bonamino
Lucid dream control (LDC), the ability to deliberately influence dream experiences during a lucid dream, is central to many theoretical, experimental, and lucid dream clinical applications. Despite its importance, standardized instruments for assessing LDC remain limited, typically treating it as a single, broad construct. This study aimed to develop and provide a preliminary evaluation of the...
International Journal of Dream Research May 26, 2026 Sophie Boudrias, Michael Schredl
Prediction error is a discrepancy between a prior expectation and what is experienced. Predictive processing posits that prediction errors lead to updates of previously acquired models, beliefs, and expectations. They can be valenced (i.e., better or worse than expected) or non-valenced. The presence of prediction errors in dreams remains debated, while dream reports do contain surprise related...
International Journal of Dream Research May 4, 2026 Jamie Bueno, Petroc Sumner, Brittany Bueno
Nightmares are considered a hallmark symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A risk factor for nightmares may be sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), a constellation of traits involving increased responsivity to sensory stimulation and emotion, and deeper cognitive processing. Here we tested whether this relationship between SPS and nightmares mainly occurs when stress or trauma are...
International Journal of Dream Research 2026
This study explores how lucid dreaming might inform Integrative Counselling Practice (ICP). A thematic analysis of 14 existing studies identified four key themes: Healing Mechanisms of Lucid Dreaming, Therapeutic Applications of Lucid Dreaming, Risks Associated with Lucid Dreaming, and Characteristics of the Lucid Dreaming State and Experience. Findings suggest that the lucid dreaming state...
International Journal of Dream Research 2025
Lucid dreams are dreams in which the dreamer is realizing that she/he is dreaming while dreaming; the prevalence of lucid dreaming in adults is about 55%. Relatively little is known about lucid dreaming in adolescents. In the present survey, 226 adolescents (144 female, 82 male) with an age range from 10 to 20 yrs. The findings indicate that the percentage of adolescents who report having had...
International Journal of Dream Research 2022
Lucid dreaming is a phenomenon in which the dreamer is aware that he/she is dreaming while the dream is still going on. Many studies investigated the prevalence of lucid dreaming in various populations; however, no study has been conducted in the Arab Middle East region. As age and cultural differences in attitudes towards dreams may influence lucid dreaming, we aimed to investigate lucid...
International Journal of Dream Research February 12, 2021 Michael Schredl
Nightmares in which the dreamer performs a criminal act and is terrified of being punished have been reported in the literature. Systematic studies of “breaking the law” within dreams, however, are still lacking. Within a long dream series of N = 11,808 dreams, 0.80% of the dreams included some criminal activity often associated with the fear of being arrested; rarely with the feeling of...
International Journal of Dream Research June 19, 2020 Michael Schredl
Dream content analytic studies rely on dream reports that can be obtained via different collection methods, e.g., REM sleep awakenings in the sleep lab, diaries, and eliciting the most recent dream. Whereas differences between lab and home dreams have been documented, systematic research regarding the differences between most recent dreams and diary dreams is scarce. The present analyses...
International Journal of Dream Research December 16, 2018 Gregory Scott Sparrow 2 citations
In the interest of correlating subjective dream experience with emergent models for dreaming consciousness, the following hypothesis is considered: A variety of anomalies occurring in lucid dreaming suggest that there are two distinct modes of awareness available in the lucid state--focused and objectifying awareness (FOA), and relational immersive awareness (RIA)—and that these distinct modes...
International Journal of Dream Research October 5, 2018 Gordon G. Globus 2 citations
Abstract: In waking Existenz (pace Heidegger) we always find ourselves already thrown amidst the world, whereas in lucid dream Existenz there is this remarkable difference: we actually throw the world. The operation of intentionality—the brain’s self-tuning capability—is discussed with respect to its role in lucid world throwing. The ability to throw authentic worlds while lucidly dreaming...
International Journal of Dream Research July 2, 2018 Kurt Forrer
The bulk of the scientific fraternity still regards the world as ‘a thing as such’, a ‘reality’, in other words, that is independent of an active mind. Its proponents build their theories on facts they regard as something certain, steadfast and unalterable. The etymology of ‘fact’ reveals that its meaning has its roots in the Latin word ‘facere’, ‘to do’. Its present day meaning was established...
International Journal of Dream Research April 1, 2018
Lucid dreaming is the phenomenon of dreaming while knowing that one is dreaming but the skills within the lucid dream, e.g., carrying out successfully pre-arranged tasks, vary considerably from dreamer to dreamer – even in frequent lucid dreamers. In order to measure inter-individual differences in lucid dreaming skills, a ten-item questionnaire was developed. The internal consistency was high....
International Journal of Dream Research August 6, 2017 Ming-Ni Lee 1 citation
The objective of this study was to (1) document the diverse forms of cognition and attention that occur during dreaming and (2) articulate the qualitatively different profiles of the forms of cognition and attention that constitute classes or categories of reflective awareness during dreaming. Seventy introductory psychology students (68.1% females, 31.9% males, mean age = 19.8 years, SD age =...
International Journal of Dream Research April 11, 2016 Kurt Forrer
Freud and Jung are the pillars of the modern scientific study of the mind. Their ideas are based upon diverse sources, ranging from mythic literature to the case studies of their individual patients. The work of those who came later, even when it veered away from that of these two pioneers, still took into account the theories they forged. Today, modern laboratory techniques and equipment have...
International Journal of Dream Research February 29, 2016 Sergei Vladimirovich Kukharenko 4 citations
The article examines the phenomenon of lucid dreaming within a broader framework of other states of higher awareness, popularized mostly (but not only) within Hindu-Buddhist tradition. The author assumes that lucid dreaming may have more in common with Gurdjieff’s remembering oneself and mindfulness than with the normal waking state. Based on the survey of modern western lucid dreamers and...
International Journal of Dream Research 2014 Dagna Skrzypińska, Monika Słodka 2 citations
Dreaming is an important state of consciousness that complements the awake state. Self-awareness, as well as the ability to recognize other people, are essential characteristics of everyday life. The recognition of Self and others is based on, among others, autobiographical and episodic memory, and emotional, and evaluative systems, or perceptual cues. The goal of the paper is to answer a...
International Journal of Dream Research 2014 Anthony Murkar, Carlyle T. Smith, Allyson Dale et al. 1 citation
Previous research has found evidence of relationships among sleep states and memory sources. However, the use of text-analysis of dream reports limits the validity of measures of emotion in dream reports. In order to determine whether dreams contain imagery that is emotionally significant (or meaningful) to the dreamer, a new technique for measuring the emotional significance of dream imagery...
International Journal of Dream Research 2011 Josie E Malinowski, Caroline L. Horton 15 citations
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:...
International Journal of Dream Research 2009 Jayne Gackenbach 8 citations
Cognitive skill improvement associated with video game play has been well documented showing a range of improved abilities from spatial skills to problem solving and general intelligence. The implications for consciousness and it’s development have not been as widely examined. Recent research into the emergence of consciousness in sleep as related to video game play has suggested one...