Forgetting of Dreams in the Laboratory

Abstract

An adult male S slept 45 nights in a laboratory and was awakened at the end of every REM period. He recorded 138 dreams during this time of which he could recall 88 when he awakened in the morning. Analysis of the data showed that recency, intensity, amount of material, and intraserial interference all influenced the morning recall of dreams. Intraserial interference was independent of the other three factors which interacted with one another. Repression does not appear to account for the forgetting of dreams reported during the night.