Dream recall frequency is associated with attention rather than with working memory abilities.
Salomé Blain, Aurélien De la Chapelle, Anne Caclin, Aurélie Bidet-Caulet, Perrine Ruby
Journal of Sleep Research October 1, 2022 DOI: 10.1111/jsr.13557 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Low and high dream recallers |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | Attentional filter Audition Memory encoding Non-verbal Short-term memory |
| Key findings | High dream recallers showed less resistance to hard-to-ignore distractors than low dream recallers, providing the first behavioral evidence of attentional differences between the groups. |
Abstract
Several factors influencing dream recall frequency (DRF) have been identified, but some remain poorly understood. One way to study DRF is to compare cognitive processes in low and high dream recallers (LR and HR). According to the arousal-retrieval model, long-term memory encoding of a dream requires wakefulness while its multisensory short-term memory is still alive. Previous studies showed contradictory results concerning short-term memory differences between LR and HR. It has also been found that extreme DRFs are associated with different electrophysiological traits related to attentional processes. However, to date, there is no evidence for attentional differences between LR and HR at the behavioural level. To further investigate attention and working memory in HR and LR, we used a newly-developed challenging paradigm called "MEMAT" (for MEMory and ATtention), which allows the study of selective attention and working memory interaction during memory encoding of non-verbal auditory stimuli. We manipulated the difficulties of the distractor to ignore and of the memory task. The performance of the two groups were not differentially impacted by working memory load. However, HR were slower and less accurate in the presence of a hard rather than easy to-ignore distractor, while LR were much less impacted by the distractor difficulty. Therefore, we show behavioural evidence towards less resistance to hard-to-ignore distractors in HR. Using a challenging task, we show for the first time, attentional differences between HR and LR at the behavioural level. The impact of auditory attention and working memory on dream recall is discussed.
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 4
- Poor dream recall associates with Alzheimer's disease biomarkers and dementia risk Alzheimer S and Dementia Diagnosis Assessment and Disease Monitoring March 30, 2026
- Dreaming in patients with epilepsy: a cross-sectional cohort study. Journal of Sleep Research October 1, 2025
- The association of brain injury severity with dream cessation and nightmares. Neuropsychologia June 19, 2025
- The individual determinants of morning dream recall. Communications Psychology February 18, 2025
Cites 28
- Neural Correlates of Dream Lucidity Obtained from Contrasting Lucid versus Non-Lucid REM Sleep: A Combined EEG/fMRI Case Study Sleep June 29, 2012
- Questionnaires and diaries as research instruments in dream research: Methodological issues. Dreaming March 1, 2002
- Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model Journal of Sleep Research May 12, 2003
- Dream Recall: State or Trait Variable? Part I: Model, Theories, Methodology and Trait Factors Imagination, Cognition and Personality October 1, 1996
- Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives Frontiers in Psychology 2011
and 23 more in the library