Skip to content

Dream Recall: State or Trait Variable? Part I: Model, Theories, Methodology and Trait Factors

Michael Schredl, Alyaa Montasser

Imagination Cognition and Personality October 1, 1996 DOI: 10.2190/rcag-ny96-3d99-ka0g (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Review Peer reviewed
Topics Dreaming
Keywords Trait Recall Dream Empirical research Cognitive psychology Epistemology
Citations 64
Key findings State factors such as nocturnal awakening and focusing on dreams in the morning, along with trait factors including fantasy life, creativity, and visual memory, are major contributors to variability in dream recall frequency.

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to carefully review the research carried out hitherto regarding factors influencing dream recall. With respect to the hypotheses explaining the variation in dream recall frequency (DRF) and a model of the dream recall process, the empirical data has been divided into two groups, trait factors and state factors. In the first part of the article the studies on the influence of trait factors are reviewed. The second part incudes data concerning state factors, new empirical data and some final conclusions. State factors such as nocturnal awakening and focusing on dreams in the morning and trait factors such as fantasy life, creativity and visual memory play a major role in explaining variability in dream recall.