Why do we remember some dreams and forget others ?
Have you ever woken up with vivid memories of your dreams? Or have you ever been confused about what I saw in my dream? Yes, we dream; sometimes we remember it, but sometimes we forget it. What's going on here? The mystery behind this is interesting. Let's explore it.
Humans have been figuring out why we dream. It's an experience we have while we're asleep. There are a number of stages the brain goes through during sleep, and these stages are repeated in cycles throughout the night. The most dreaming happens during the deepest stage, the REM stage, or Rapid Eye Movement Stage, which is characterised by high brain activity. According to studies, people who wake up during or right after the REM stage of sleep are more likely to remember their dreams; this is because the dream is still fresh in our short-term memory and during REM sleep, increased activity occurs in the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with memory consolidation.
Another factor is that the intensity and emotional impact of the dream are more likely to be remembered because they engage the amygdala, the part of the brain associated with emotion. The intensity of emotional engagement transfers dreams from short-term to long-term memory. There is a hormone that influences remembering dreams; it’s norepinephrine. Whether we are asleep or awake, norepinephrine helps us remember things. Whenever we have an emotionally stimulating experience, our brain releases norepinephrine. As it rushes through our brain, it binds our nerve cells that help us learn new information, creating pathways between them. Later on, electrical signals in our brain can travel back down those pathways to help us recall the experience we were having when they formed. Norepinephrine is always present at some level when we are awake, and when we are falling sleep it drops. During the morning, our norepinephrine levels raise to a point where we start creating memories, and that norepinephrine helps our brain cells to create connections that make us more likely to form a memory of the dream.
Individual differences are also a key factor in whether we remember or forget our dreams. Because each person has different brain chemistry, especially the levels of neurotransmitters that influence memory formation during sleep. Conversely, dreams that occur during nREM sleep or those that are less emotional and vivid are less likely to be remembered, because those dreams don’t make enough of an impression on our brain to be stored in long-term memory.
Studies show that remembering and forgetting dreams is not a random thing. It is influenced by many factors, including brain function, sleep patterns, and the emotional intensity of the dream.
References
Scientific American. (2014). What processes in the brain allow you to remember dreams? Scientific American.
Gottesmann, C. (2011). The involvement of noradrenaline in rapid eye movement sleep mentation. Frontiers in Neurology, 2, 81. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2011.00081
Baron, R. A. (2000). Psychology (5th ed.). Allyn & Bacon.
Dang-Vu, T. T., Schabus, M., Desseilles, M., Sterpenich, V., Bonjean, M., & Maquet, P. (2010). Amygdala and hippocampus volumetry and diffusivity in relation to dreaming. Human Brain Mapping, 32(9), 1458–1470. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.21120
Written By- Ms. ASWANI VP - Consultant psychologist (Mindmaris Counsellors India Pvt)
