Phenomenological features of dreams: Results from dream log studies using the Subjective Experiences Rating Scale (SERS).
Tracey L. Kahan, Stephanie Claudatos
Consciousness and Cognition April 1, 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.02.007 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 144 |
| Population | College women |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Dream phenomenology Experimental phenomenology Inner experience |
| Key findings | Dreams are characterized by a greater prevalence of vision, audition, and movement than smell, touch, or taste, and process-oriented features are more strongly interrelated than with structural features. |
Abstract
Self-ratings of dream experiences were obtained from 144 college women for 788 dreams, using the Subjective Experiences Rating Scale (SERS). Consistent with past studies, dreams were characterized by a greater prevalence of vision, audition, and movement than smell, touch, or taste, by both positive and negative emotion, and by a range of cognitive processes. A Principal Components Analysis of SERS ratings revealed ten subscales: four sensory, three affective, one cognitive, and two structural (events/actions, locations). Correlations (Pearson r) among subscale means showed a stronger relationship among the process-oriented features (sensory, cognitive, affective) than between the process-oriented and content-centered (structural) features--a pattern predicted from past research (e.g., Bulkeley & Kahan, 2008). Notably, cognition and positive emotion were associated with a greater number of other phenomenal features than was negative emotion; these findings are consistent with studies of the qualitative features of waking autobiographical memory (e.g., Fredrickson, 2001).
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... | 2009 | Observational study | n = 6 |
| Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years | 2002 | Prospective observational study | n = 116 |
| Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... | 1987 | Case-control study | n = 11 |
| The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 147 |
| Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects | 2018 | Observational cohort | n = 14 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 9
- How You Measure Is What You Get: Differences in Self- and External Ratings of Emotional Experiences in Home Dreams The American Journal of Psychology August 21, 2017
- Enactive or inactive? Cranially envatted dream experience and the extended conscious mind Philosophical Explorations May 4, 2018
- Sleep, Nightmares and Schizophrenia Journal of Sleep Disorders and Management November 3, 2017
- Intersubjectivity and Multiple Realities in Zarathushtra’s Gathas Open Theology October 1, 2018
- EEG microstates reveal distinct network dynamics in lucid and non-lucid REM sleep Consciousness and Cognition April 13, 2026
and 4 more in the library
Cites 24
- Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming Frontiers in Psychology August 18, 2015
- Sleep and dreaming are for important matters Frontiers in Psychology 2013
- What I make up when I wake up: anti-experience views and narrative fabrication of dreams Frontiers in Psychology 2013
- Dream content analysis: Basic principles heiDOK (Heidelberg University) 2010
- Methodological considerations for the neurophenomenology of dreaming: commentary on Windt's “Reporting dream experience†Frontiers in Human Neuroscience May 23, 2014
and 19 more in the library