CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 19Sleep and Wakefulness ResearchSleep and related disordersChild and Animal Learning Development

Content analysis of 4 to 8 year-old children's dream reports

Open access
Sándor, Piroska, Szakadát, Sára, Kertész, Katinka, Bódizs, Róbert·2015·Frontiers in Psychology
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00534PMC PMC4415323
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

The role of dreaming in childhood and in adulthood are still equally enigmatic fields yet to be fully explored. However, while there is a consensus at least about the typical content and formal characteristics of adult dream reports, these features are still a matter of debate in the case of young children. Longitudinal developmental laboratory studies concluded that preschoolers' dreams usually depict static images about mostly animals and body states of the dreamer but they basically lack the active representation of the self, human characters, social interactions, dream emotions and motion imagery. Due to methodological arguments these results became the reference points in the literature of developmental dream research, in spite of the significantly different results of numerous recent and relevant studies using extra-laboratory settings. This study aims to establish a methodologically well-controlled and valid way to collect children's dreams for a representative period of time in a familiar home setting to serve as a comparison to the laboratory method. Pre trained parents acted as interviewers in the course of a 6 week-period of dream collection upon morning awakenings. Our results suggest that even preschoolers are likely to represent their own self in an active role (70%) in their mostly kinematic (82%) dream narratives. Their dream reports contain more human, than animal characters (70 and 7% of all dream characters respectively), and social interactions, self-initiated actions, and emotions are usual part of these dreams. These results are rather similar to those of recent extra-laboratory studies, suggesting that methodological issues may strongly interfere with research outcomes especially in the case of preschoolers' dream narratives. We suggest that nighttime awakenings in the laboratory setting could be crucial in understanding the contradictory results of dream studies in case of young children.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00534

Cites

7 of 7 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Empirical evidence favors a correlation between mental imagery and sleep mentation in children.

    “Due to these findings, the study of dream recall rates in children moved from a language-emotional level to an assessment of executive functions, with empirical evidence in favor of a correlation between mental imagery and sleep mentation.4–6,69”

    From Spotlight on dream recall: the ages of dreams (2018) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Introduction reports a positive association between dream recall frequency and visuospatial abilities, which supports a link between imagery-related skills and sleep mentation. It also says that, in the youngest children, recall correlated with social and verbal skills instead; the paper does not report a direct correlation between measured mental imagery and sleep mentation across children generally. The Overall discussion treats the influence of visual imagery on dream production as a hypothesis. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • A low compliance in recording dream content may be due to the presence of a stranger (the researcher) and can lead to a bias in reporting dreams.

    “A low compliance in recording dream content may be due to the presence of a stranger (ie, the researcher) and can lead to a bias in reporting dreams.5–7”

    From Spotlight on dream recall: the ages of dreams (2018) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Introduction (page unavailable) says an unfamiliar laboratory interviewer may make it difficult for young children to talk about their dreams, and it discusses methodological biases in dream reports. It does not specifically identify low compliance in recording dreams or establish that low compliance leads to reporting bias. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Very few studies directly looked for a relationship between dream content and cognitive skills.

    “very few studies directly looked for a relationship between dream content and cognitive skills.1,2,4,6,7,114–116”

    From Spotlight on dream recall: the ages of dreams (2018) · cites this paper as [6]

    The Introduction says that links between dream content and cognitive development have been reported, but that there is no direct evidence that cognitive skills determine the development of dreaming as an experience. The Overall discussion calls for future studies relating specific waking cognitive abilities to activities in children's dream reports. These passages support an evidence gap, but do not establish the broader claim that very few studies directly examined dream content and cognitive skills. (LLM, conf=0.75)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 51

  1. Bauer D. H. (1976). An exploratory study of developmental changes in children's fears. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry 17, 69– 75. 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1976.tb00375.x 765351 · DOI
  2. Bradley L. Hollifield M. Foulkes D. (1992). Reflection during REM dreaming. Dreaming 2, 161– 166 10.1037/h0094357 · DOI
  3. Brody L. R. (1985). Gender differences in emotional development: a review of theories and research. J. Pers. 53, 102– 149 10.1111/j.1467-6494.1985.tb00361.x · DOI · Paper page
  4. Brody L. R. Hall J. A. (2008). Gender and emotion in context, in Handbook of Emotions, 3rd Edn., eds Lewis M. Haviland-Jones J. M. Feldman Barrett L. (New York, NY: The Guilford Press), 395– 409.
  5. Bulkeley K. Broughton B. Sanchez A. Stiller J. (2005). Earliest remembered dreams. Dreaming 15, 205– 222. 10.1037/1053-0797.15.3.2053712227 · DOI
  6. Burnett Heyes S. Lau J. Y. F. Holmes E. A. (2013). Mental imagery, emotion and psychopathology across child and adolescent development. Dev. Cogn. Neurosci. 5, 119– 133. 10.1016/j.dcn.2013.02.004 23523985 PMC6987813 · DOI · Paper page
  7. Burnham M. M. Conte C. (2010). Developmental perspective dreaming across the lifespan and what this tells us. Int. Rev. Neurobiol. 92, 47– 68. 10.1016/S0074-7742(10)92003-5 20870062 · DOI
  8. Camras L. A. Allison K. (1985). Children's understanding of emotional facial expressions and verbal labels. J. Nonverb. Behav. 9, 84– 94 10.1007/BF00987140 · DOI
  9. Cicogna P. C. Occhionero M. Natale V. Esposito M. J. (2007). Bizarreness of size and shape in dream images. Conscious. Cogn. 16, 381– 390. 10.1016/j.concog.2006.06.006 16870474 · DOI · Paper page
  10. Cicogna P. Natale V. Occhionero M. Bosinelli M. (1998). A comparison of mental activity during sleep onset and morning awakening. Sleep 21, 462– 470. 9703585
  11. Domhoff G. W. (1999). New directions in the study of dream content using the Hall and Van de Castle coding system. Dreaming 9, 115– 137 10.1023/A:1021325331276 · DOI
  12. Domhoff G. W. (2001). A new neurocognitive theory of dreams. Dreaming 11, 13– 33 10.1023/A:1009464416649 · DOI
  13. Domhoff G. W. Kamiya J. (1964). Problems in dream content study with objective indicators II. Appearance of experimental situation in laboratory dream narratives. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 11, 525– 528. 10.1001/archpsyc.1964.01720290067009 14208656 · DOI
  14. Fosse R. Stickgold R. Hobson J. (2001). Brain-mind states: reciprocal variation in thoughts and hallucinations. Psychol. Sci. 12, 30– 36. 10.1111/1467-9280.00306 11294225 · DOI · Paper page
  15. Foster J. C. Anderson J. E. (1936). Unpleasant Dreams in Childhood. Child Dev. 7, 77– 84 10.2307/1125620 · DOI
  16. Foulkes D. (1967). Dreams of the male child: four case studies. J.Child Psychol. Psychiatry 8, 81– 98. 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1967.tb02184.x 5582922 · DOI
  17. Foulkes D. (1982). Children's Dreams: Longitudinal Studies. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
  18. Foulkes D. (1999). Children's Dreaming and the Development of Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  19. Foulkes D. Hollifield M. Sullivan B. Bradley L. Terry R. (1990). REM dreaming and cognitive skills at ages 5-8: a cross-sectional study. Int. J. Behav. Dev. 13, 447– 465 10.1177/016502549001300404 · DOI
  20. Foulkes D. Larson J. D. Swanson E. M. Rardin M. (1969). Two studies of childhood dreaming. Am. J. Orthopsychiatry 39, 627– 643. 10.1111/j.1939-0025.1969.tb02457.x 4308525 · DOI
  21. Foulkes D. Pivik T. Steadman H. S. Spear P. S. Symonds J. D. (1967). Dreams of the male child: an EEG study. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 72, 457– 467. 10.1037/h0025183 6076851 · DOI
  22. Frick A. Ferrara K. Newcombe N. S. (2013). Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age. Cogn. Proces. 14, 117– 127. 10.1007/s10339-012-0534-0 23306783 · DOI
  23. Hall C. S. (1984). “A ubiquitous sex difference in dreams” revisited. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 46, 1109– 1117. 10.1037/0022-3514.46.5.1109 6737207 · DOI
  24. Halpern D. F. (2011). Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities, 4th Edn. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
  25. Honig A. S. Nealis A. L. (2012). What do young children dream about? Early Child Dev. Care 182, 771– 795 10.1080/03004430.2011.579797 · DOI
  26. Kahan T. L. LaBerge S. Levitan L. Zimbardo P. (1997). Similarities and differences between dreaming and waking cognition: an exploratory study. Conscious. Cogn. 6, 132– 147. 10.1006/ccog.1996.0274 9170565 · DOI
  27. Kahn D. Pace-Schott E. Hobson J. A. (2002). Emotion and cognition: feeling and character identification in dreaming. Conscious. Cogn. 11, 34– 50 10.1006/ccog.2001.0537 11883987 · DOI
  28. Kerr N. H. Domhoff G. W. (2004). Do the Blind Literally “See” in Their Dreams? A Critique of a Recent Claim That They Do. Dreaming 14, 230– 233 10.1037/1053-0797.14.4.230 · DOI
  29. Koulack D. Goodenough D. R. (1976). Dream recall and dream recall failure: an arousal-retrieval model. Psychol. Bull. 83, 975– 984 10.1037/0033-2909.83.5.975 · DOI · Paper page
  30. Maquet P. Ruby P. Maudoux A. Albouy G. Sterpenich V. Dang-Vu T.. (2005). Human cognition during REM sleep and the activity profile within frontal and parietal cortices: a reappraisal of functional neuroimaging data. Prog. Brain Res. 150, 219– 227. 10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50016-5 16186026 · DOI · Paper page
  31. Merritt J. M. Stickgold R. Pace-Schott E. Williams J. Hobson J. A. (1994). Emotion profiles in the dreams of men and women. Conscious. Cogn. 3, 46– 60 10.1006/ccog.1994.1004 · DOI · Paper page
  32. Meyer S. Shore C. (2001). Children' s understanding of dreams as mental states. Dreaming 11, 179– 194 10.1023/A:1012288223591 · DOI
  33. Newcombe N. S. Frick A. (2010). Early education for spatial intelligence: why, what, and how. Mind Brain Educ. 4, 102– 111 10.1111/j.1751-228X.2010.01089.x · DOI
  34. Nielsen T. Levin R. (2007). Nightmares: a new neurocognitive model. Sleep Med. Rev. 11, 295– 310. 10.1016/j.smrv.2007.03.004 17498981 · DOI · Paper page
  35. Oberst U. Charles C. Chamarro A. (2005). Influence of gender and age in aggressive dream content of Spanish children and adolescents. Dreaming 15, 170– 177 10.1037/1053-0797.15.3.170 · DOI
  36. Pitcher G. E. Prelinger E. (1963). Children Tell Stories: An Analysis of Fantasy. New York, NY: International Universities Press.
  37. Resnick J. Stickgold R. Rittenhouse C. D. Hobson J. A. (1994). Self-representation and bizarreness in children's dream reports collected in the home setting. Conscious. Cogn. 3, 30– 45 10.1006/ccog.1994.1003 · DOI
  38. Robert G. Zadra A. (2008). Measuring nightmare and bad dream frequency: impact of retrospective and prospective instruments. J. Sleep Res. 17, 132– 139. 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2008.00649.x 18482103 · DOI · Paper page
  39. Saline S. (1999). The most recent dreams of children ages 8-11. Dreaming 9, 173– 181 10.1023/A:1021345800325 · DOI
  40. Schachter S. Singer J. (1962). Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychol. Rev. 69, 379– 399. 10.1037/h0046234 14497895 · DOI · Paper page
  41. Schredl M. Buscher A. Haaß C. Scheuermann M. Uhrig K. (2015). Gender differences in dream socialization in children and adolescence. Int. J. Adolesc. Youth 20, 61– 68 10.1080/02673843.2013.767211 · DOI
  42. Schredl M. Wittmann L. Ciric P. Götz S. (2003). Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model. J. Sleep Res. 12, 133– 41. 10.1046/j.1365-2869.2003.00344.x 12753350 · DOI · Paper page
  43. Staunton H. (2001). The function of dreaming. Rev. Neurosci. 12, 365– 371 10.1515/REVNEURO.2001.12.4.365 11783720 · DOI
  44. Strauch I. Lederbogen S. (1999). The home dreams and waking fantasies of boys and girls between ages 9 and 15: a longitudinal study. Dreaming 9, 153– 161 10.1023/A:1021341732185 · DOI
  45. Strauch I. Meier B. (1996). In Search of Dreams: Results of Experimental Dream Research. New York, NY: State University of New York Press.
  46. Weisz R. Foulkes D. (1970). Home and laboratory dreams collected under uniform sampling conditions. Psychophysiology 6, 588– 596. 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1970.tb02247.x 4320884 · DOI · Paper page
  47. Woolley J. D. (1995). The fictional mind: young children's understanding of imagination, pretense, and dreams. Dev. Rev. 15, 172– 211 10.1006/drev.1995.1008 · DOI
  48. Woolley J. D. Boerger E. A. (2002). Development of beliefs about the origins and controllability of dreams. Dev. Psychol. 38, 24– 41. 10.1037/0012-1649.38.1.24 11806699 · DOI
  49. Woolley J. D. Wellman H. M. (1992). Children's conceptions of dreams. Cogn. Dev. 7, 365– 380 10.1016/0885-2014(92)90022-J · DOI
  50. Zadra A. Donderi D. C. (2000). Nightmares and bad dreams: their prevalence and relationship to well-being. J. Abnormal Psychol. 109, 273– 281. 10.1037//0021-843X.109.2.273 10895565 · DOI
  51. Zajonc R. B. (1984). On the primacy of affect. Am. Psychol. 39, 117– 123 10.1037/0003-066X.39.2.117 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Sándor, P., Szakadát, S., Kertész, K., & Bódizs, R.
Affiliations
Semmelweis University (HU)
Corresponding author
Sándor, Piroska
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2015-04-30
Volume
6
Pages
534-534
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00534
PMC
PMC4415323
OpenAlex
W2045274485
Cited by
19
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 3
FWCI
1.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Repository of the Academy's Library (Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) (acceptedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Semmelweis University Repository (Semmelweis University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Hungarian Scientific Research Fund
  • Fundação Bial (55/10)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
Keywords
children's dreams, preschool children, dream content, dream narrative, dream characters, dream emotions, nocturnal awakenings

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review