New research published in the journal Communications Psychology sheds light on why people dream about certain things. The study found that dream content is largely 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 life experiences both influence what people dream about.
For example, data gathered during the height of the COVID-19 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. As the pandemic went on, those dreams began to subside. This suggests that as people adapt to new circumstances, their dreams also adapt.
The study also found specific links between personality and dream content. Participants who were more prone to mind-wandering reported fragmented, bizarre, and rapidly changing dreams. In contrast, vivid and immersive dreams were more common among participants who believed that dreams have significance and meaning.
The natural language processing data also revealed that everyday life experiences 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. “Dreams are a dynamic process shaped by who we are and what we live through,” Elce 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 researchers noted that using natural language processing for dream research could be a new and effective way to learn more about dreams, consciousness, and memory. The study authors wrote that dreaming serves as a mechanism through which the brain processes and integrates newly acquired memories, gradually reducing their emotional intensity.
The study authors acknowledged that more research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying dream content, such as how personality actually influences dreams. Still, the findings bring researchers closer to understanding the mystery of why people dream what they dream.
Dreams remain one of life’s great mysteries. They can be scary, enjoyable, vivid, and strange. This research shows that dreams are not only shaped by lived experiences, but also by shared experiences, emotions, and personalities.
