Lateral Eye Movements and Dream Recall in Males: A Re-Appraisal
Alan Leboeuf, Patricia McKay, Keith Clarke
Imagination, Cognition and Personality September 1, 1983 DOI: 10.2190/8a7y-4v8h-1ub3-u2xc (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Individuals identified as predominantly left or right eye movers in response to thought-provoking questions |
| Duration | 10-day dream diary period |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key findings | Contrary to Van Nuy's earlier finding, left and right eye movers did not differ in the number of dreams recalled over a ten-day diary period. Left movers were more likely to report bizarre, vivid, and affect-laden dreams than right movers. |
Abstract
A previous investigation by Van Nuy's suggested that individuals who typically make left eye movements when reflecting upon thought-provoking questions tended to report higher dream recall than right movers. The present study was designed to reappraise this relationship and also to investigate whether there are qualitative differences in the dream content of left and right movers. Subjects in the present study were identified as displaying predominantly left or right eye movements to thought-provoking questions and then asked to keep a dream diary for a ten-day period. The results indicated that contrary to Van Nuy's study, there was no difference in the number of dreams recalled by either group. However, the results demonstrated that left movers were more likely to report bizarre, vivid and affect-laden dreams than were right movers.
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 |
| The prevalence of nightmares and their independence from anxiety. Undergraduates | 1990 | Observational study using daily dream logs | n = 220 |