New research published in the journal Communications Psychology offers insight into why people dream about certain things. The study found that dream content is often shaped by a person’s personality and shared life experiences.
Researchers collected data from nearly 300 adults over two weeks. Participants recorded their daily experiences and their dreams. The study also looked at sleep patterns, personality traits, and cognitive abilities. This resulted in more than 3,700 reports.
The team used advanced natural language processing techniques to identify patterns and semantic structures in the dreams. They found that individual traits and shared experiences influence what people dream about.
For example, data gathered during the height of the pandemic showed that dreams were heavily influenced by the state of the world at that time. People reported emotionally intense dreams and dreams about limitations. Those dreams began to subside as the pandemic went on, suggesting that as people adapt, their dreams do too.
The study also found links between personality and dream content. Participants who were more prone to mind-wandering reported fragmented, bizarre, and rapidly changing dreams. Vivid and immersive dreams were more common for participants who believed that dreams in general have significance and meaning.
The natural language processing data also revealed that everyday lives are transformed, almost warped, by dreams. Participants described their waking lives and their dreams. The language processing techniques showed that dreams often reorganize or reinterpret waking events.
“Rather than constituting a direct replay of daily experiences, dreams may offer a hyper-associative reinterpretation of past events and future expectations, weaving together apparently distant elements into coherent, though often bizarre, scenarios,” the study authors wrote.
Lead study author Valentina Elce, Ph.D., said the findings show that dreams are not just a reflection of past experiences. “It’s a dynamic process shaped by who we are and what we live through,” she said. “By combining large-scale data with computational methods, we were able to uncover patterns in dream content that were previously difficult to detect.”
The study authors noted that more research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying dream content, such as how personality actually influences dreams. However, they said using natural language processing for dream research could be a novel and effective way to continue learning about dreams, consciousness, and memory.
“Dreaming serves as a mechanism through which the brain processes and integrates newly acquired memories, gradually stripping away or reducing their emotional intensity,” the authors wrote.
The research suggests that dreams are not only shaped by lived experiences, but also by shared experiences, emotions, and personalities. While the full mystery of dreams may never be solved, this study brings researchers closer to understanding how and why people dream about certain things.
