The individual determinants of morning dream recall.
Valentina Elce, Damiana Bergamo, Giorgia Bontempi, Bianca Pedreschi, Michele Bellesi, Giacomo Handjaras, Giulio Bernardi
Communications Psychology February 18, 2025 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-025-00191-z (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 217 |
| Population | Healthy adults aged 18-70 years |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Attitude toward dreaming, mind-wandering proneness, and sleep patterns are associated with dream recall probability; age and vulnerability to interference predict likelihood of recalling dream content. |
Abstract
Evidence suggests that (almost) everyone dreams during their sleep and may actually do so for a large part of the night. Yet, dream recall shows large interindividual variability. Understanding the factors that influence dream recall is crucial for advancing our knowledge regarding dreams' origin, significance, and functions. Here, we tackled this issue by prospectively collecting dream reports along with demographic information and psychometric, cognitive, actigraphic, and electroencephalographic measures in 217 healthy adults (18-70 y, 116 female participants, 101 male participants). We found that attitude towards dreaming, proneness to mind wandering, and sleep patterns are associated with the probability of reporting a dream upon morning awakening. The likelihood of recalling dream content was predicted by age and vulnerability to interference. Moreover, dream recall appeared to be influenced by night-by-night changes in sleep patterns and showed seasonal fluctuations. Our results provide an account for previous observations regarding inter- and intra-individual variability in morning dream recall.
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 |
| The prevalence of nightmares and their independence from anxiety. Undergraduates | 1990 | Observational study using daily dream logs | n = 220 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 7
- Poor dream recall associates with Alzheimer's disease biomarkers and dementia risk Alzheimer S and Dementia Diagnosis Assessment and Disease Monitoring March 30, 2026
- Separating experience reporting from content recall in dream reports across sleep stages Research Square October 30, 2026
- Exploring sleep experiences in the general population using qualitative survey data Discover Public Health May 17, 2026
- Individual traits and experiences predict the content of dreams Communications Psychology April 28, 2026
- Typical Dream Themes in a Large Internet Sample: A Replication and Extension. Journal of Sleep Research October 27, 2026
and 2 more in the library
Cites 36
- Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems Nature Reviews Neuroscience April 20, 2016
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- Dreaming as mind wandering: evidence from functional neuroimaging and first-person content reports. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013
- 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
and 31 more in the library