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ABSTRACT

Memory retrieval of a dream and a film

Jacques Montangero, Ph.D. in psychology (University of Geneva),
professor at the University of Geneva. Beside research on the development
of time concepts in children, has been conducting experiments on cognitive
aspects of dreaming in adults since the 1980's. Author of Rêve et cognition
(Dreams and cognition), Liège: Mardaga, 1999.

Jacques.Montangero@pse.unige.ch

4. Summary of presentation.
In order to validate a method of dream collection and to study problems of
memory retrieval, reports of a dream and descriptions of a 4 minute film
presented during the night were compared with one another and with morning
reports performed after reading the transcription of the night report.

5. A. Reflection on 1) problems of data collection in dream research, 2)
way of evaluating the relative length of dreams; 3) the relationship of
reporting a dream and memorizing a visual content.
B. - What can a morning report add to a night dream report?
- Is there a correlation between the visual memory of a film and the
richness of
information of a dream report?
- What were the similarities and differences between the dream and film
reports in this experiment?

Abstract

Memory retrieval of a dream and of a film
Jacques Montangero, University of Geneva

The first aim of the research is to validate a data collection method consisting in obtaining a dream report after awakening during the night, and completing this report with the information given in the morning after the participants have read the transcription of their night report. The second aim is to study the relationship between the capacity to memorize a visual and narrative content (short film) and the length or amount of information of a dream report.

Twenty young adults spent two non consecutive nights at the sleep laboratory and were awakened during the second REM period of the night. During one night they reported the dream they just had and during the other night they were presented with a 4 minute video film, simulating dream contents, then they described it. The following morning, participants read their night report (of the dream or of the film) then were asked to give a new description, as accurate as possible, of the dream experience or of the film. They were asked in particular to mention what was visualized and what was not.

The amount and nature of information in each report (night and morning reports) was analyzed and compared. Results show that there was always an important amount of additional information in the morning reports and that, when it was possible to check the accuracy of information (film), more than 90 % of the additional information was correct. The presence of additional information which relates to what was reported during the night cannot be attributed only to the presence of an interviewer and the higher degree of vigilance of the participant. It reveals that the content of the night experience was transferred to long term memory and that memory retrieval is good in the morning, with the help of the cue recall provided by the night report. Some effects of hypermnesia (better recall in the morning than immediately after the experience at night) were also observed.

We also compared, for each participant, the amount of information of the night dream report with the night film report. For more than half the participants, there was a positive correlation between their memory for the film and the length of their dream report. Based on this result, the problem of the relationship between memory capacity and dream production is discussed in the paper.