Evidence of an active role of dreaming in emotional memory processing shows that we dream to forget.

Dreaming appears to play an active role in how the brain processes emotional memories during sleep. People who reported dreaming after a full night of sleep showed the typical emotional memory trade-off—remembering negative images better while forgetting neutral ones—and also showed reduced emotional reactivity the next day. Those who did not recall dreams showed neither effect. Additionally, more positive dream content was linked to more positive emotional reactivity the following day. These results suggest that dreaming actively helps process emotional experiences, possibly by enhancing important memories and allowing less relevant information to fade.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Dreaming is a universal human behavior that has inspired searches for meaning across many disciplines including art, psychology, religion, and politics, yet its function remains poorly understood. Given the suggested role of sleep in emotional memory processing, we investigated whether reported overnight dreaming and dream content are associated with sleep-dependent changes in emotional memory and reactivity, and whether dreaming plays an active or passive role. Participants completed an emotional picture task before and after a full night of sleep and they recorded the presence and content of their dreams upon waking in the morning. The results replicated the emotional memory trade-off (negative images maintained at the cost of neutral memories), but only in those who reported dreaming (Dream-Recallers), and not in Non-Dream-Recallers. Results also replicated sleep-dependent reductions in emotional reactivity, but only in Dream-Recallers, not in Non-Dream-Recallers. Additionally, the more positive the dream report, the more positive the next-day emotional reactivity is compared to the night before. These findings implicate an active role for dreaming in overnight emotional memory processing and suggest a mechanistic framework whereby dreaming may enhance salient emotional experiences via the forgetting of less relevant information.