Autobiographical memory and hyperassociativity in the dreaming brain: implications for memory consolidation in sleep
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In this paper we argue that autobiographical memory (AM) activity across sleep and wake can provide insight into the nature of dreaming, and vice versa. Activated memories within the sleeping brain reflect one's personal life history (autobiography). They can appear in largely fragmentary forms and differ from conventional manifestations of episodic memory. Autobiographical memories in dreams can be sampled from non-REM as well as REM periods, which contain fewer episodic references and become more bizarre across the night. Salient fragmented memory features are activated in sleep and re-bound with fragments not necessarily emerging from the same memory, thus de-contextualizing those memories and manifesting as experiences that differ from waking conceptions. The constructive nature of autobiographical recall further encourages synthesis of these hyper-associated images into an episode via recalling and reporting dreams. We use a model of AM to account for the activation of memories in dreams as a reflection of sleep-dependent memory consolidation processes. We focus in particular on the hyperassociative nature of AM during sleep.
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Dreams are rarely an exact replication of any particular past experience, but very often incorporate isolated elements drawn from recent episodic memories.
“First, while dreams are rarely an exact replication of any particular past experience, they very often incorporate isolated elements drawn from recent episodic memories [27–31].”
From Constructive episodic simulation in dreams (2022) · cites this paper as [28]
Inclusion of bizarre items in DE may provide a de-contextualization of experiences to promote better assimilation of salient emotional contents in existing memories.
“It should be noted that a previous work suggested that the inclusion of bizarre items in the DE may provide a de-contextualization of experiences to promote a better assimilation of salient emotional contents in the existing memories (Horton and Malinowski, 2015).”
From The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes (2019) · cites this paper as Horton and Malinowski, 2015
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Self-citationSuch Stuff as Dreams are Made On
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Multiple Memory Systems: A New View
Nadel, L. (2008) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-012370509-9.00065-6 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Recall and recognition of dreams and waking events: A diary paradigm
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Self-citationDreams of Truck Drivers: A Test of the Continuity Hypothesis of Dreaming
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Self-citationA Neuro-Cognitive Model of Sleep Mentation & Memory
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Re-defining discontinuity: Implications for the functions of dreaming
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Self-citationHorton, C. L. (2011) · Dreaming · doi:10.1037/a0024860 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Self-citationCorrelates of Dream Recall: Implications for Confabulation
Horton, C. L. (2014) · Imagination Cognition and Personality · doi:10.2190/ic.34.2.e · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Self-citationConsolidation enhancement: Which stages of sleep for which tasks?
Smith, C. T. (2005) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x0541002x · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
3 of the 125 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 3
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Functional Role of Dreaming in Emotional Processes
Scarpelli, S., Bartolacci, C., D'Atri, A., Gorgoni, M., & De Gennaro, L. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00459 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
“It should be noted that a previous work suggested that the inclusion of bizarre items in the DE may provide a decontextualization of experiences to promote a better assimilation of salient emotional contents in the existing memories (Horton and Malinowski, 2015).”
BackgroundDissociation and its disorders: competing models, future directions, and a way forward
Lynn, S. J., Maxwell, R., Merckelbach, H., Lilienfeld, S. O., Kloet, D. V. H.-V. D., & Miskovic, V. (2019) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2019.101755 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Lynn, S. J., Polizzi, C. P., Merckelbach, H. L. G. J., Chiu, C., Maxwell, R., der Kloet, D. V. H., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2022) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-081219-102424 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Malinowski, J., & Horton, C. L. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01132 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
Self-citationCipolli, C., Ferrara, M., De Gennaro, L., & Plazzi, G. (2017) · Sleep Medicine Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.smrv.2016.07.005 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Horton, C. L. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00159 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Self-citationAlomri, R. M., Kennedy, G. A., Wali, S., Alhejaili, F. F., & Robinson, S. R. (2020) · SLEEP · doi:10.1093/sleep/zsaa213 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Dream to Predict? REM Dreaming as Prospective Coding
Llewellyn, S. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01961 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Solomonova, E., Picard‐Deland, C., Rapoport, I. L., Pennestri, M., Saad, M., Kendzerska, T., Veissière, S. P. L., Godbout, R., Edwards, J. D., Quilty, L. C., et al. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0259040 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
The memory sources of dreams: serial awakenings across sleep stages and time of night
Picard‐Deland, C., Konkoly, K. R., Raider, R., Paller, K. A., Nielsen, T., Pigeon, W. R., & Carr, M. (2022) · SLEEP · doi:10.1093/sleep/zsac292 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Kirov, R., Brand, S., Banaschewski, T., & Rothenberger, A. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02059 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
NREM sleep spindles are associated with dream recall
Nielsen, T., Carr, M., Blanchette-Carrière, C., Marquis, L.-P., Dumel, G., Solomonova, E., Julien, S.-H., Picard-Deland, C., & Paquette, T. (2017) · Sleep Spindles & Cortical Up States · doi:10.1556/2053.1.2016.003 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Wang, J., Zemmelman, S. E., Hong, D., Feng, X., & Shen, H. (2020) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2020.103051 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Memory reactivations during sleep: a neural basis of dream experiences?
Picard‐Deland, C., Bernardi, G., Genzel, L., Dresler, M., & Schoch, S. F. (2023) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2023.02.006 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Németh, G., & Bányai, E. I. (2021) · Behavioral Sleep Medicine · doi:10.1080/15402002.2021.1873139 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Constructive episodic simulation in dreams
Wamsley, E. J. (2022) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0264574 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“Instead, they incorporate unbound fragments of past experience, woven into a scenario that may bear little resemblance to the memory a participant identifies as its “source” [27, 28].”
BackgroundThe route to recall a dream: theoretical considerations and methodological implications
Nemeth, G. (2023) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-022-01722-7 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Correlates and Mediators of Dissociation: Towards a Transtheoretical Perspective
Aksen, D. E., Polizzi, C. P., & Lynn, S. J. (2020) · Imagination Cognition and Personality · doi:10.1177/0276236620956284 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Autobiographical Memory From Different Life Stages in Individuals With Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Delhikar, N., Sommers, L., Rayner, G., Schembri, R., Robinson, S. R., Wilson, S. J., & Jackson, M. L. (2019) · Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society · doi:10.1017/s1355617718001091 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Zhang, W., & Guo, B. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01553 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Holzinger, B., Nierwetberg, F., Chung, F. F., Bolstad, C. J., Bjorvatn, B., Chan, N. Y., Dauvilliers, Y. A., Espie, C. A., Han, F., Inoue, Y., et al. (2022) · Nature and Science of Sleep · doi:10.2147/nss.s368147 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Autobiographical memory sources of threats in dreams
Lafrenière, A., Lortie‐Lussier, M., Dale, A., Robidoux, R., & Koninck, J. D. (2017) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2017.10.017 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Bizarreness of Lucid and Non-lucid Dream: Effects of Metacognition
Yu, C., & Shen, H. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02946 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Bloxham, A., & Horton, C. L. (2024) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2024.103719 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Self-citationThe effects of dream rebound: evidence for emotion‐processing theories of dreaming
Malinowski, J., Carr, M., Edwards, C., Ingarfill, A., & Pinto, A. (2019) · Journal of Sleep Research · doi:10.1111/jsr.12827 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
The link between dissociative tendencies and hyperassociativity
Huntjens, R. J. C., Janssen, G. P. J., Merckelbach, H. L. G. J., & Lynn, S. J. (2021) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2021.101665 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Neurocognitive dynamics of spontaneous offline simulations: Re-conceptualizing (dream)bizarreness
Kirberg, M. (2022) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2022.2042231 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
A second-order adaptive mental network model relating dreaming to creativity
Budding, D., Doornkamp, S., & Jan Treur, A. (2022) · Cognitive Systems Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogsys.2022.12.001 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
van Rijn, E., Reid, A. M., Edwards, C. L., Malinowski, J., Ruby, P. M., Eichenlaub, J., & Blagrove, M. (2017) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2017.10.011 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Nieto, M., Ricarte, J. J., Griffith, J. W., Slesinger, N. C., Taple, B. J., Fernández‐Aguilar, L., Ros, L., & Latorre, J. M. (2019) · Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2019.05.005 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Ambiguity as Dream Mentation: Supermasculinity and Ambivalence in American Dreams
Mageo, J. M. (2019) · Ethos · doi:10.1111/etho.12244 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Dream content and procedural learning in Vipassana meditators and controls.
Solomonova, E., Dubé, S., Samson-Richer, A., Blanchette‐Carrière, C., Paquette, T., & Nielsen, T. (2018) · Dreaming · doi:10.1037/drm0000081 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Relationship Between Personality Types in MBTI and Dream Structure Variables
Zhao, C., Wang, J., Feng, X., & Shen, H. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01589 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
I could do that in my sleep: skilled performance in dreams
Rosen, M. G. (2021) · Synthese · doi:10.1007/s11229-021-03079-7 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Horton, C. L. (2020) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2020.00259 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Self-citationMemory, Sleep, Dreams, and Consciousness: A Perspective Based on the Memory Theory of Consciousness
Budson, A. E., & Paller, K. A. (2025) · Nature and Science of Sleep · doi:10.2147/nss.s522975 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Vedfelt, O. (2020) · Journal of Analytical Psychology · doi:10.1111/1468-5922.12574 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Reactions to Dream Content: Continuity and Non-continuity
Kahn, D. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02676 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
The neurocognition of dreaming: key questions and foci
Horton, C. L. (2023) · Emerging Topics in Life Sciences · doi:10.1042/etls20230099 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Self-citationAn Attempt at Matching Waking Events Into Dream Reports by Independent Judges
Wang, J. X., & Shen, H. Y. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00465 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Kirberg, M., Robinson, J., & Windt, J. (2025) · Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1007/s11097-025-10073-8 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Lukowski, A. F., Valentovich, V., Bohanek, J. G., & Slonecker, E. M. (2017) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.3356 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Wang, J., Li, X., He, J., Ma, H., Bin, T., Wan, J., Feng, X., Zemmelman, S. E., & Shen, H. (2020) · Journal of Sleep Research · doi:10.1111/jsr.13171 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Driving while dreaming: oneiric automobility
Sheriff, R. E. (2024) · Mobilities · doi:10.1080/17450101.2024.2348657 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
The Dreamwork of Childhood Memory: The Futures Teachers Make From the Schooling Past
Farley, L. (2021) · American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (AERA) · doi:10.3102/1683911 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Experimentally inducing dreams of remote emotional memory
Frost, C. C., & Wamsley, E. J. (2025) · SLEEP Advances · doi:10.1093/sleepadvances/zpaf054 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Dreams as Deep Play: Toward a Cultural Understanding of Dreaming
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Sleep and Autobiographical Memory
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Dream-like mental states can occur during wakefulness
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- Authors
- Horton, C. L., & Malinowski, J. E.
- Affiliations
- Bishop Grosseteste University (GB)
- University of Bedfordshire (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Horton, Caroline L.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2015-07-02
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 874-874
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4488598
- OpenAlex
- W1527172082
- Cited by
- 68
- References
- 125
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 2.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BGRO - Business, Governance and Religious Organisations Repository (acceptedVersion)
- BG Research Online (Bishop Grosseteste University) (acceptedVersion)
- UEL Research Repository (University of East London) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UEL Research Repository (University of East London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- autobiographical memory, dreams, memory consolidation, sleep, REM sleep, NREM sleep, episodic memory, dream recall, memory reconsolidation
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.
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