Learning to Remember Dreams

Abstract

The possibility of learning to remember dreams was explored with the cooperation of a group of participant-observers who maintained dream diaries for 12 weeks and were selected on the basis of their desire to experience improved dream recall. A self-administered dream recall rating scale was devised which provided measures of several aspects of memory for dreams. The participants apparently increased their ability to retrieve dream memories, but their actual level of dream recall performance was subject to motivational fluctuations. On the other hand, although the participants claimed to have developed no control over the vividness of their memory for dreams, this aspect of their dream recall nevertheless evidenced substantial improvement. The possibility of improving memory for dreams being confirmed, future research should provide (a) more information concerning the control processes governing dream recall, and (b) information concerning how to increase volitional access to these processes.