A study by researchers at IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca shows that dreams are influenced by personality traits, daily experiences, and broader life events. The study also explained why some dreams tend to feel real while others are fragmented and strange.
Published in Communications Psychology, the study analyzed more than 3,700 descriptions of dreams and waking experiences from 287 participants aged between 18 and 70.
Study participants who reported higher levels of mind-wandering described more fragmented and shifting dreams, while those who viewed dreams as meaningful reported more detailed and immersive experiences.
Participants recorded their daily experiences over two weeks, while researchers collected data on sleep patterns, cognitive abilities, personality traits, and psychological characteristics.
Dreams Aren’t Random
The research team used natural language processing methods to examine the meaning and structure of dream reports.
The findings show that dreams are not random. Instead, they reflect a combination of internal factors such as mind-wandering tendencies, interest in dreams, and sleep quality, along with external influences like major societal events, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brain Reworks Reality
By comparing daily experiences with dream reports, researchers found that the brain does not simply replay waking events.
Instead, it reshapes familiar environments such as workplaces, hospitals, or schools into new scenes that combine different elements and perspectives.
This process suggests that dreams reconstruct reality by blending memories with imagined or anticipated experiences.
More Intense Dreams During COVID
The study also examined the impact of large-scale events. Data from Sapienza University of Rome during the COVID-19 lockdown showed that dreams became more emotionally intense and often included themes of restriction. These patterns became less pronounced over time as people adapted.
AI Role in Dream Research
Lead researcher Valentina Elce said the findings show that dreams are shaped by both personal traits and lived experiences.
The study also highlighted the role of artificial intelligence, noting that NLP models were able to analyze dream content with accuracy comparable to human evaluators.
Researchers said this approach could support future research into consciousness, memory, and mental health.
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Well this is wrong then. We lost 5 of our elders in covid and not a single person dreamed about them. We miss them and cry for them sure, but they never appear in our dreams.