In 2009, British researchers looked at the validity of dream memories, noting that failure to record details and the changes that occur when one recalls the memory at different times can alter the dream and its perceived meaning. People who can't remember their dreams or don't know if they have them are less apt to see great value in dreaming. "I think there are different kinds of dreams - and some that are just odd compilations of events and reactions one recently had," said Gaskin, who also noted that some dreams may be very meaningful to the person having them.Ī 2005 study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences "suggested that people who remember many dreams are generally interested in dreams, in trying to understand them, increasing their dream recall frequency and tend to have an overall positive attitude toward dreams." It cites a half-dozen studies that see an association between dream recall and positive attitudes about dreaming, as well as interest in understanding dreams.
While that's all possible, there is no consensus nor empiric proof. Or maybe dreams help people problem-solve. Some suggest dreams are how the brain organizes or archives all the information and impressions it takes in. We're not quite sure what dreams are about, so a lot of research has focused on what dreams are and the function they serve, he said. In some cultures, dreams can drive marriage and other decisions, Gaskin said. In America and Great Britain, dreams don't have the same power they're granted in other parts of the world. "As soon as you start collecting hundreds of thousands or tens of millions of data points on people's dreams - all sorts of people across every demographic and every geographic - you start to see some real interesting patterns on how things are viewed and how mood impacts people, how society shapes mood and how mood shapes action," said Gaskin, an information systems professor at Brigham Young University.īut rest easy: The dreams are not associated with the dreamers, as the dream data is anonymous. Besides providing some fun and possible insights, Gaskin hopes the app will create a rich database from which to learn about dreams. The app, called UDreamed, asks dreamers to check boxes to describe their dreams, which are then sorted in a searchable database. This is a screenshot of the UDreamed app.
The naturally curious Gaskin and some colleagues have come up with a free app for Android and iPhone that lets people detail their dreams, compare their dreams to those of others who use the app and even find popular, possible interpretations of common dream elements to untangle meanings. What does it mean if you dream you're flying? Who are people most likely to dream about? And why do dreams even matter? In a given week, he notes, he could tell you five of his dreams.īut while dreaming comes easy to Gaskin, he also realizes that more is not known about dreams than is known. PROVO - BYU professor James Gaskin comes from a long line of dreamers: His grandparents kept dream journals, his parents could easily recount their dreams and he remembers some of his from when he was as young as 3 years old.