Skip to content

Correlates of home dream recall. I. REM sleep in the laboratory as a predictor of home dream recall.

The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease March 1, 1970 DOI: 10.1097/00005053-197003000-00006 (opens in new tab)

Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational study Peer reviewed
Sample size 41
Population Normal young adult male subjects
Duration First 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep; sleep log kept for 14 consecutive days
Topics Dreaming
Key findings Detailed dream reports were significantly positively related to REM density and REM time, while vague and no-content reports were negligibly related to REM density. The authors argue that detailed reports tend to come from end-of-the-night awakenings from REM periods with much eye movement activity, whereas vague or no-content reports may come from NREM awakenings or earlier REM awakenings followed by a return to sleep.

Abstract

Rapid eye movement frequency (REM density) and REM time in the first 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep were studied in relation to various measures of home dream recall in 41 normal young adult male Ss. The incidence of detailed dream reports was significantly positively related to REM density. On the other hand, vague and no-content dream reports were negligibly related to REM density. Similar relationships were found between dream reporting and REM time. It was argued that detailed dream reports tend to come from end-of-the-night awakenings from REM periods with much eye movement activity, while vague and no-content reports either are derived from non-rapid eye movement (NREM) awakenings or from REM period awakenings occurring earlier in the night and from which the S returns to sleep. A questionnaire estimate of dream recall proved to be a fair predictor of detailed dream recall as measured by a sleep log kept for 14 consecutive days and was thought to sample the delayed recall of vivid dreams from end-of-the-night REM periods with high REM densities.

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

Citations in the library

Cited by 5

Related reading

Explore topics

Dreaming