Those who often recall their dreams respond more strongly to their name, finds new study

(Wired Magazine) – How often do you remember your dreams? For some people the answer can be as little as once or twice a month, whereas others can recollect their sleeping thoughts almost every day.

Little is known about what causes people to remember dreams, but a new study has linked a propensity to remember dreams to a stronger neurological reaction to hearing the sound of first names — both when you’re awake and asleep.

Researchers at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre divided 36 subjects into two groups — high dream recallers who frequently remembered their mental nighttime escapades, and low dream recallers who only remembered their dreams once or twice a month. For every participant, brain activity that occurred when they heard their first name and an unfamiliar first name was recorded both during sleep and while they were awake.

Continue reading the Wired magazine news report.The study titled Alpha reactivity to first names differs in subjects with high and low dream recall frequency was published in Frontiers in Psychology as part of a Frontiers Research Topic on Contrasting Dreaming and Wakefulness: Frontiers in Consciousness Research.

Follow the research activity of lead author, Dr. Perrine Ruby, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center in Lyon, France, on the Frontiers Research Network.

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