Trait and neurobiological correlates of individual differences in dream recall and dream content.

People differ greatly in how often they recall dreams, what types of dreams they have (such as nightmares), and what their dreams are about. This chapter reviews research linking these differences to waking-life experiences and to brain biology. Although general dream recall and dream content show stable, trait-like patterns, few psychometric measures reliably predict them. More success has come from studying specific dream types—nightmares and lucid dreams—and how waking events shape dream content. Recent work exploring the neurobiological basis of these individual differences is also reviewed.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Individuals differ greatly in their dream recall frequency, in their incidence of recalling types of dreams, such as nightmares, and in the content of their dreams. This chapter reviews work on the waking life correlates of these differences between people in their experience of dreaming and reviews some of the neurobiological correlates of these individual differences. The chapter concludes that despite there being trait-like aspects of general dream recall and of dream content, very few psychometrically assessed correlates for dream recall frequency and dream content have been found. More successful has been the investigation of correlates of frequency of particular types of dreams, such as nightmares and lucid dreams, and also of how waking-life experience is associated with dream content. There is also potential in establishing neurobiological correlates of individual differences in dream recall and dream content, and recent work on this is reviewed.