Dream self-reflectiveness as a learned cognitive skill.

Dreaming can involve self-reflection, and this ability varies by sleep stage and can be trained. Greater self-reflectiveness occurred in REM dreams compared to stages 2 and 4 sleep, which did not differ. People who frequently recalled dreams showed more self-reflectiveness than low-frequency recallers. After three weeks of home dream collection, experimental groups trained with mnemonic techniques showed more self-reflective and lucid dreaming than a baseline group. The findings suggest dreaming exists along a continuum of self-reflective awareness, supporting the view that dreaming is a higher-order cognitive activity rather than a derivative process.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This research was directed toward the contradiction sustained by cognitive dream psychology, which on the one hand regards dreaming as higher symbolic activity and, on the other, sees its organizational and functional characteristics as derivative and/or inferior to those of waking consciousness. Study 1 evaluates the degree of self-reflective meta-cognition in dreams from different sleep stages. Subjects were 24 college students selected such that half were self-reported high-frequency dream recallers and half were low-frequency recallers. Both groups were composed equally of men and women. Greater self-reflectiveness (SR) was found in REM dreams as compared with those from stages 2 and 4, which did not differ. High-frequency recallers showed more dream SR than did low-frequency recallers. Study 2 assessed the extent to which self-reflective and lucid dreaming can be learned as a cognitive skill by varying levels of intention and attention paid to dreaming. After 3 weeks of home dream collection, results showed that four experimental groups had greater dream SR than did a baseline group. The most effective treatment was the mnemonic, wherein attention patterning schemas learned in waking resulted in more self-reflective and lucid dreaming than did either baseline or attention-control conditions. These results provide evidence that dreaming is not single-minded but variable along a self-reflective process continuum, and suggest functional and organizational levels that are consistent with the conception of dreaming as higher order cognitive activity.