The priming effect of presleep conscious thoughts on dreams.

Abstract

In this study, we explored the influence of presleep conscious thoughts on dreams. One hundred forty-eight participants reported any thoughts that came to their minds before falling asleep, and reported their dreams the next morning after they woke up. Then, two independent judges rated similar correspondences (characters, objects, locations, and actions) between each participant’s conscious thoughts and dreams of the same person. In addition, the judges used the same method to rate similar correspondences between each participant’s conscious thoughts and dreams of another participant (the randomized condition). The result showed that there were more correlations between each participant’s conscious thoughts and dreams of the same person than the randomized condition. Thus there was meaningful continuity between presleep conscious thoughts and dreams. In addition, dreams may be correlated with the activation of autobiographical memories primed by waking-life experiences.