Dream Content and Procedural Learning in Vipassana Meditators and Controls
Elizaveta Solomonova, Simon Dubé, Arnaud Samson-Richer, Cloé Blanchette-Carrière, Tyna Paquette, Tore Nielsen
Dreaming June 1, 2018 DOI: 10.1037/drm0000081 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study comparing meditators and controls during a daytime nap Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 40 |
| Population | 20 Vipassana meditators and 20 controls |
| Topics | Dreaming Meditation |
| Key findings | Meditators' dreams differed in quality from controls' dreams: they were longer, had slightly more body references, and showed friendlier, more compassionate interactions with dream characters, though they were not more lucid. Meditators did not incorporate the procedural learning task or laboratory into dreams more often than controls, and no relationship was found between dream content and task performance overall. In controls, incorporating the task or laboratory in REM/N2 dreams was associated with improvement on the task, but incorporations at sleep onset were associated with slightly worse performance. |
Abstract
Vipassana meditation is characterized by observing bodily sensations, developing emotional and attentional stability, and promoting prosocial qualities. Whether these characteristics are also reflected in meditators’ dream content is not currently known. Evidence relating dream content with sleep-dependent learning is mixed: Some studies suggest that dreaming of a task is beneficial for improvement, whereas others find no such effect. This study aimed at investigating whether meditators have qualitatively different dreams than do controls, whether meditators incorporate a procedural learning task more often than do controls, and whether dreaming about the task is related to better postsleep performance on the task. Twenty meditators and 20 controls slept for a daytime nap in the laboratory. Before sleeping and upon awakening, they completed a procedural learning task. Dream reports were collected at sleep onset and upon awakening (REM or N2 sleep). Dreams were then scored for qualities associated with meditation practice and for incorporations of the procedural task and the laboratory. Meditators had longer dreams, slightly more references to the body, and friendlier and more compassionate interactions with dream characters. Dreams of meditation practitioners were not more lucid than those of controls. Meditators did not incorporate the learning task or laboratory into dream content more often than did controls, and no relationship was found between dream content and performance on the procedural task. In control participants, in contrast, incorporating the task or laboratory in REM/N2 dreams was associated with improvement on the task, but incorporations at sleep onset were associated with slightly worse task performance.
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 |
| Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects | 2018 | Observational cohort | n = 14 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 5
- Dreaming of the sleep lab PLoS One October 6, 2021
- Flying dreams stimulated by an immersive virtual reality task. Consciousness and Cognition August 1, 2020
- Enhancing and advancing the understanding and study of dreaming and memory consolidation: Reflections, challenges, theoretical clarity, and methodological considerations Consciousness and Cognition June 27, 2024
- Impact of Pre-Sleep Visual Media Exposure on Dreams: A Scoping Review Brain Sciences June 29, 2024
- Whole-body procedural learning benefits from targeted memory reactivation in REM sleep and task-related dreaming. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory September 1, 2021
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