| Literature DB >> 29681873 |
Abstract
Correlations between memories and dreaming has typically been studied by linking conscious experiences and dream reports, which has illustrated that dreaming reflects waking life events, thoughts, and emotions. As some research suggests that sleep has a function of memory consolidation, and dreams reflect this, researching this relationship further may uncover more useful insights. However, most related research has been conducted using the self-report method which asks participants to judge the relationship between their own conscious experiences and dreams. This method may cause errors when the research purpose is to make comparisons between different groups, because individual differences cannot be balanced out when the results are compared among groups. Based on a knowledge of metaphors and symbols, we developed two operationalized definitions for independent judges to match conscious experiences and dreams, the descriptive incorporation and the metaphorical incorporation, and tested their reliability for the matching purpose. Two independent judges were asked to complete a linking task for 212 paired event-dreams. Results showed almost half dreams can be matched by independent judges, and the independent-judge method could provide similar proportions for the linking task, when compared with the self-report method.Entities:
Keywords: content analysis; continuity hypothesis; dreams; incorporation; memory consolidation; metaphor; search activity
Year: 2018 PMID: 29681873 PMCID: PMC5897700 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00465
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Front Psychol ISSN: 1664-1078
Operational definition for different kinds of incorporation.
| Category | Operational definition |
|---|---|
| Descriptive incorporation | Dream subject element (e.g. character or object) is the same as the waking event’s description, and both the behaviorb and the behavioral outcomec of the dream are in accord with the behaviorb and the behavior outcomec of that event. |
| Metaphorical incorporation |
Dream subject element (e.g., character or object) is the same as the waking event’s description, and the dream’s behaviorb is not the same as the waking life behaviorb but their behavioral outcomes are the same as each other. Dream subject element (e.g., character or object) shares a similaritya with the waking life event’s description, and the behavioral outcomec of the dream is in accord with the behavior outcomec of that event. If either i or ii can be found out, it would be viewed as metaphorical incorporation. |
Average and median number of dream length and conscious event.
| Content | Mean( | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Dream lengtha | 192 (136.2) | 150 |
| PSEs numberb | 1.49 (0.75) | 1 |
| MCs numberc | 1.52 (0.69) | 1 |
The number of observations and frequencies for event’s incorporation.
| Dream variable | Observations (percentage) |
|---|---|
| Non-incorporationa | 97 (45.3%) |
| Descriptive incorporationab | 25 (11.8%) |
| Metaphorical incorporationab | 91 (43.0%) |
| PSEs’ incorporatingc | 77 (24.4%) |
| MCs’ incorporatingd | 48 (15.0%) |