Why some people remember their dreams (and others don’t)

Study shows that daydreamers are more likely to have stronger recall of their overnight adventures

LUCCA, Italy — What were you dreaming about last night? For roughly one in four people, that question draws a blank. For others, the answer comes easily, complete with vivid details about flying through clouds or showing up unprepared for an exam. This stark contrast in dream recall ability has baffled researchers for decades, but a new study reveals there’s more to remembering dreams than pure chance.

From March 2020 to March 2024, scientists from multiple Italian research institutions conducted a sweeping investigation to uncover what determines dream recall. Published in Communications Psychology, their research surpassed typical dream studies by combining detailed sleep monitoring, cognitive testing, and brain activity measurements. The study involved 217 healthy adults between ages 18 and 70, who did far more than simply keep dream journals; they underwent brain tests, wore sleep-tracking wristbands, and some even had their brain activity monitored throughout the night.

Understanding dream recall has long puzzled researchers. Early studies in the 1950s focused mainly on REM sleep, the sleep stage characterized by rapid eye movements and vivid dreams. Scientists initially thought they had solved the mystery of dreaming by linking it exclusively to REM sleep. However, later research revealed that people also dream during non-REM sleep stages, though these dreams tend to be less vivid and harder to remember.

According to researchers at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, three main factors emerged as strong predictors of dream recall: a person’s general attitude toward dreaming, their tendency to let their mind wander during waking hours, and their typical sleep patterns.

To measure attitudes about dreaming, participants completed a questionnaire rating how strongly they agreed or disagreed with statements like “dreams are a good way of learning about my true feelings” versus “dreams are random nonsense from the brain.” People who viewed dreams as meaningful and worthy of attention were more likely to remember them compared to those who dismissed dreams as meaningless brain static.

Mind wandering proved to be another crucial factor. Using a standardized questionnaire that measures how often people’s thoughts drift away from their current task, researchers found that participants who frequently caught themselves daydreaming or engaging in spontaneous thoughts during the day were more likely to recall their dreams. This connection makes sense considering both daydreaming and dreaming involve similar brain networks, particularly regions associated with self-reflection and creating internal mental experiences.

The relationship between daydreaming and dream recall points to an intriguing possibility: people who spend more time engaged in spontaneous mental activity during the day may be better equipped to generate and remember dreams at night. Both activities involve creating mental experiences disconnected from the immediate external environment.

People who typically had longer periods of lighter sleep with less deep sleep (technically called N3 sleep) were better at remembering their dreams. During deep sleep, the brain produces large, slow waves that help consolidate memories but may make it harder to generate or remember dreams. In contrast, lighter sleep stages maintain brain activity patterns more similar to wakefulness, potentially making it easier to form and store dream memories.

Age was also a factor in dream recall. While younger participants were generally better at remembering specific dream content, older individuals more frequently reported “white dreams,” those frustrating experiences where you wake up knowing you definitely had a dream but can’t remember anything specific about it. This age-related pattern suggests that the way our brains process and store dream memories may change as we get older.

The researchers also discovered that dream recall fluctuates seasonally, with people remembering fewer dreams during winter months compared to spring and autumn. While the exact reason remains unclear, this pattern wasn’t explained by changes in sleep habits across seasons. One possibility is that seasonal variations in light exposure affect brain chemistry in ways that influence dream formation or recall.

Rather than relying on written dream journals, participants used voice recorders each morning to describe everything that was going through their minds just before waking up. This approach reduced the effort required to record dreams and minimized the chance that the act of recording would interfere with the memory of the dream itself.

Throughout the study period, participants wore wristwatch-like devices called actigraphs that track movement patterns to measure sleep quality, duration, and timing. A subset of 50 participants also wore special headbands equipped with electrodes to record their brain activity during sleep. This comprehensive approach allowed researchers to connect dream recall with objective measures of how people were actually sleeping, not just how they thought they slept.

“Our findings suggest that dream recall is not just a matter of chance but a reflection of how personal attitudes, cognitive traits, and sleep dynamics interact,” says lead author Giulio Bernardi, professor in general psychology at the IMT School, in a statement. “These insights not only deepen our understanding of the mechanisms behind dreaming but also have implications for exploring dreams’ role in mental health and in the study of human consciousness.”

The study authors plan to use these findings as a reference for future research, particularly in clinical settings. Further investigations could explore the diagnostic and prognostic value of dream patterns, potentially improving our understanding of how dreams relate to mental health and neurological conditions.

Understanding dream recall could provide insights into how the brain processes and stores memories during sleep. Dreams appear to draw upon our previous experiences and memories while potentially playing a role in emotional processing and memory consolidation. Changes in dream patterns or recall ability might serve as early indicators of neurological or psychiatric conditions.