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Cited by 67Sleep and Wakefulness ResearchSleep and related disordersMemory Processes and Influences

We do not dream of the 3 r’s: implications for the nature of dreaming mentation

Hartmann, Ernest·2000·Dreaming
DOI 10.1023/a:1009400805830
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Abstract

This report examines the extent to which dream recall involves the “3 R's” (reading, writing, and arithmetic). Two separate studies were done. In the first study, two scorers rated, on a blind basis, a total of 456 written dream reports, available from five previous studies. There was perfect agreement between the two scorers. They agreed that there were no instances of reading, no instances of writing, and one instance of probable calculating in the 456 dreams. The second study was a questionnaire survey. Complete responses were obtained from 240 frequent dreamers (who reported remembering a mean of seven dreams per week). The study examined in two ways the frequency of the 3 R's in their recalled dreams. First, in answer to direct questions as to how frequently they dreamt about each activity, roughly 90% of the respondents reported that they “never” or “hardly ever” dreamt about each of four activities: reading, writing, typing, and calculating. In answers to other questions, this group reported spending a mean of six hours per day engaged in these activities. Second, responses as to the relative prominence of six activities (walking, writing, talking with friends, reading, sexual activity, typing) in dreaming versus waking produced two clear groupings of activities. “Walking,” “talking with friends,” and “sexual activity” were each rated almost as prominent in dreaming as in waking whereas the second group consisting of “writing,” “reading,” and “typing” were rated as far more prominent in waking than in dreaming. The two activity groups differed at p < .0001. Thus, the 3 R's appear to occur very infrequently in dreams. These findings are placed in a theoretical frame which suggests that dreaming (compared to waking) deals very little with serial activities characterized by “input—rapid-processing—output” in which the neural nets function in a feed-forward mode. Rather, dreaming may be characterized by relatively broad or loose connection making in which the nets function more in an autoassociative mode.

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  • Dreams are generally less vivid than waking life and contain less sensory and conceptual information (sparseness).

    “First, the sparseness of dreams in that they are generally less vivid than waking life in that they contain less sensory and conceptual information (i.e., less detail).”

    From The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization (2021) · cites this paper as [38]

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Authors
Hartmann, E.
Affiliations
Tufts University (US)
Corresponding author
Hartmann, Ernest
Venue
Dreaming
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2000-06
Volume
10
Issue
2
Pages
103-110
ISSN
  • 1053-0797 (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-3351
DOI
10.1023/a:1009400805830
OpenAlex
W1980122998
Cited by
67
References
11
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 3
FWCI
0.57
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Dreaming (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Keywords
dream recall, dream content, artificial neural networks, autoassociative memory, feedforward processing

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