Daydreams incorporate recent waking life concerns but do not show delayed (‘dream-lag’) incorporations

• Published in: Consciousness and cognition Vol. 58; pp. 51 - 59
• Main Authors: van Rijn, Elaine, Reid, Alexander M., Edwards, Christopher L., Malinowski, Josie E., Ruby, Perrine M., Eichenlaub, Jean-Baptiste, Blagrove, Mark T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-02-2018; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Day-residue; Daydreaming; Dream-lag; Dreaming; Dreams; Eye movements; Fantasies; Functions of dreaming; Functions of sleep; Memory; Memory consolidation; Mind wandering; REM sleep; Sleep; Daydreaming; Memory consolidation; Functions of sleep; Functions of dreaming; Mind wandering; Dreaming; Day-residue; Dream-lag; REM sleep
• ISSN: 1053-8100; 1090-2376
• DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.10.011

•Waking life events and concerns are incorporated into daydreams and dreams.•The timescale of these incorporations is known for dreams, but not for daydreams.•Concerns from the previous two days are preferentially incorporated into daydreams.•There is no timescale effect for incorporation of significant events into daydreams.•Daydreams, and REM and N2 dreams do not show delayed incorporations of experiences.
This study investigates the time course of incorporation of waking life experiences into daydreams. Thirty-one participants kept a diary for 10 days, reporting major daily activities (MDAs), personally significant events (PSEs) and major concerns (MCs). They were then cued for daydream, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and N2 dream reports in the sleep laboratory. There was a higher incorporation into daydreams of MCs from the previous two days (day-residue effect), but no day-residue effect for MDAs or PSEs, supporting a function for daydreams of processing current concerns. A day-residue effect for PSEs and the delayed incorporation of PSEs from 5 to 7 days before the dream (the dream-lag effect) have previously been found for REM dreams. Delayed incorporation was not found in this study for daydreams. Daydreams might thus differ in function from REM sleep dreams. However, the REM dream-lag effect was not replicated here, possibly due to design differences from previous studies.