Mind & behavior · 1973
How did dream memory change in people who kept dream diaries for 12 weeks?
Their ability to bring dreams back to mind appeared to improve, and their memories became more vivid. These participants had been selected because they wanted to remember dreams better, and their performance varied with motivation. With no comparison group reported in the abstract, the study does not establish that keeping a diary caused the improvements.
Details
The study explored whether people could learn to remember dreams better. Participants kept dream diaries for 12 weeks and used a self-administered rating scale designed to assess several aspects of dream memory.
The results suggested improvement in retrieving dream memories, although actual recall fluctuated with motivation. The vividness of dream memories also improved substantially, even though participants said they had gained no control over how vivid those memories were. Improvement therefore did not mean they could reliably control their dream memory at will.
The findings concern motivated volunteers assessed through self-ratings. The abstract does not report their ages, the sample size or a comparison group, limiting conclusions about what caused the changes and whether they would occur in other people.
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