Brain functional connectivity upon awakening from sleep predicts interindividual differences in dream recall frequency.

People who frequently recall dreams show distinct brain connectivity patterns immediately after waking compared to those who rarely recall dreams. The study measured brain functional connectivity using combined EEG-fMRI in 20 high dream recallers and 18 low dream recallers before and after an early-afternoon nap. Five minutes after awakening, high recallers exhibited enhanced connectivity within the default mode network and between the default mode network and memory-related brain regions. This connectivity pattern may help maintain the short-term memory of dreams during the transition from sleep to wakefulness. The groups differed in dream recall but not in recall of a comic presented before the nap.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Why do some individuals recall dreams every day while others hardly ever recall one? We hypothesized that sleep inertia-the transient period following awakening associated with brain and cognitive alterations-could be a key mechanism to explain interindividual differences in dream recall at awakening. To test this hypothesis, we measured the brain functional connectivity (combined electroencephalography-functional magnetic resonance imaging) and cognition (memory and mental calculation) of high dream recallers (HR, n = 20) and low dream recallers (LR, n = 18) in the minutes following awakening from an early-afternoon nap. Resting-state scans were acquired just after or before a 2 min mental calculation task, before the nap, 5 min after awakening from the nap, and 25 min after awakening. A comic was presented to the participants before the nap with no explicit instructions to memorize it. Dream(s) and comic recall were collected after the first post-awakening scan. As expected, between-group contrasts of the functional connectivity at 5 min post-awakening revealed a pattern of enhanced connectivity in HR within the default mode network (DMN) and between regions of the DMN and regions involved in memory processes. At the behavioral level, a between-group difference was observed in dream recall, but not comic recall. Our results provide the first evidence that brain functional connectivity right after awakening is associated with interindividual trait differences in dream recall and suggest that the brain connectivity of HR at awakening facilitates the maintenance of the short-term memory of the dream during the sleep-wake transition.