Correlates of Dream Recall: Implications for Confabulation

Abstract

This investigation aimed to characterize the personality profile of dream-recallers using a psychometrically-validated measure of dream remembering (the MED-Q) (Horton & Conway, 2009), and considered these relationships in terms of confabulation: the tendency to confuse reality with imaginings and thus create false memories. In Experiment 1, 221 participants completed the MED-Q and a battery of personality measures online. The MED-Q significantly correlated with personality dimensions such as openness, thin boundaries, and fantasy-proneness, reinforcing previous findings. Experiment 2 involved participants ( N = 45) recalling a previously-read story, providing measures of true recall and confabulation. A significant relationship was found between the MED-Q (“Awareness of dreaming” factor) and confabulation, but not with other memory scores. Thus, the personality profile described in Experiment 1 gives rise to a tendency to confabulate, reflect upon or rehearse personal memories, as opposed to improving the recall of autobiographical memories, which in turn may lead to an increased awareness of dreaming (Experiment 2). This not only reinforces the overlap between dreaming and constructive autobiographical memory processes, but also acts as a warning to interpret freely recalled dreams with substantial caution.