Spotlight on dream recall: the ages of dreams
Anastasia Mangiaruga, Serena Scarpelli, Chiara Bartolacci, Luigi De Gennaro
Nature and Science of Sleep 2018 DOI: 10.2147/nss.s135762 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Longitudinal Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Dream Recall Cognitive psychology |
| Citations | 40 |
| Key findings | Dream recall frequency declines in the elderly, possibly due to diminished interest or age-related cognitive decline, and shared neural mechanisms between waking cognition and dream features are suggested in adults. |
Abstract
Brain and sleep maturation covary across different stages of life. At the same time, dream generation and dream recall are intrinsically dependent on the development of neural systems. The aim of this paper is to review the existing studies about dreaming in infancy, adulthood, and the elderly stage of life, assessing whether dream mentation may reflect changes of the underlying cerebral activity and cognitive processes. It should be mentioned that some evidence from childhood investigations, albeit still weak and contrasting, revealed a certain correlation between cognitive skills and specific features of dream reports. In this respect, infantile amnesia, confabulatory reports, dream-reality discerning, and limitation in language production and emotional comprehension should be considered as important confounding factors. Differently, growing evidence in adults suggests that the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the encoding and retrieval of episodic memories may remain the same across different states of consciousness. More directly, some studies on adults point to shared neural mechanisms between waking cognition and corresponding dream features. A general decline in the dream recall frequency is commonly reported in the elderly, and it is explained in terms of a diminished interest in dreaming and in its emotional salience. Although empirical evidence is not yet available, an alternative hypothesis associates this reduction to an age-related cognitive decline. The state of the art of the existing knowledge is partially due to the variety of methods used to investigate dream experience. Very few studies in elderly and no investigations in childhood have been performed to understand whether dream recall is related to specific electrophysiological pattern at different ages. Most of all, the lack of longitudinal psychophysiological studies seems to be the main issue. As a main message, we suggest that future longitudinal studies should collect dream reports upon awakening from different sleep states and include neurobiological measures with cognitive performances.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The cognitive neuroscience of lucid dreaming | 2019 | Review | |
| Sleep and dreaming are for important matters | 2013 | Review | |
| Nightmare Disorder and Isolated Sleep Paralysis | 2020 | Review | |
| My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares? | 2019 | Review | |
| Dream Recall: State or Trait Variable? Part I: Model, Theories, Methodology and Trait Factors | 1996 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 22
- What about dreams? State of the art and open questions Journal of Sleep Research April 13, 2022
- Dreaming in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Health Crisis: Survey Among a Sample of European School Students Frontiers in Psychology April 20, 2021
- Dreaming Characteristics in Non-Rapid Eye Movement Parasomnia and Idiopathic Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behaviour Disorder: Similarities and Differences Nature and Science of Sleep March 1, 2024
- How Adversarial REM Dreams May Facilitate Creativity, and Why We Become Aware of Them Clinical and Translational Neuroscience June 26, 2024
- Individual traits and experiences predict the content of dreams Communications Psychology April 28, 2026
and 17 more in the library
Cites 52
- Assessing sleep consciousness within subjects using a serial awakening paradigm Frontiers in Psychology 2013
- Questionnaires and diaries as research instruments in dream research: Methodological issues. Dreaming March 1, 2002
- REM Dreaming and Cognitive Skills at Ages 5-8: A Cross-sectional Study International Journal of Behavioral Development December 1, 1990
- Measuring nightmare and bad dream frequency: impact of retrospective and prospective instruments Journal of Sleep Research May 13, 2008
- Amygdala and hippocampus volumetry and diffusivity in relation to dreaming Human Brain Mapping August 25, 2010
and 47 more in the library