Temporal Dating of Autobiographical Memories Associated to REM and NREM Dreams

Abstract

Associations to dreams were collected upon experimental awakenings in Initial Sleep Onset (wave pattern of Stage 2), Late Sleep Onset (St. 2), Stage 2 (St. 2) and REM sleep. Associations referring to particular episodes of the dreamer's life were classified, according to their temporal dating, into Day residues, Recent residues and Remote residues. The hypothesis that foresaw greater utilization of Day residues in Initial Sleep Onset was confirmed. The results showed that Day residues are indeed more associated with Initial Sleep Onset reports compared to those in the other sleep conditions. Day residues are likely to be more easily available to Initial Sleep Onset dreaming because of the recent encoding which characterizes memory traces of this kind.