Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29868897›Full record

ArticleSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience2018

Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep.

Jean-Baptiste Eichenlaub, Elaine van Rijn, M Gareth Gaskell, Penelope A Lewis, Emmanuel Maby, Josie E Malinowski, Matthew P Walker, Frederic Boy, Mark Blagrove

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. A dream EEG and mentation database.Nature communications · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Pre-sleep affect predicts subsequent REM frontal theta in nonlinear fashion.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2023
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. The vision of dreams: from ontogeny to dream engineering in blindness.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2022
    Review
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Jean-Baptiste EichenlaubDepartment of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
Elaine van RijnDepartment of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
M Gareth GaskellDepartment of Psychology, University of York, York, UK.
Penelope A LewisSchool of Psychological Science, Manchester University, Manchester, UK.
Emmanuel MabyLyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM, CNRS, University of Lyon, Lyon, France.
Josie E MalinowskiDepartment of Psychology, University of Bedfordshire, Luton, UK.
Matthew P WalkerSleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Frederic BoyDepartment of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
Mark BlagroveDepartment of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.

Funding

Anxiety, sleep disruption and emotional brain dysregulationR01MH093537 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI WALKER, MATTHEW P · 2012 to 2016
$1.6M
NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH093537
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and its main oscillatory feature, frontal theta, have been related to the processing of recent emotional memories. As memories constitute much of the source material for our dreams, we explored the link between REM frontal theta and the memory sources of dreaming, so as to elucidate the brain activities behind the formation of dream content. Twenty participants were woken for dream reports in REM and slow wave sleep (SWS) while monitored using electroencephalography. Eighteen participants reported at least one REM dream and 14 at least one SWS dream, and they, and independent judges, subsequently compared their dream reports with log records of their previous daily experiences. The number of references to recent waking-life experiences in REM dreams was positively correlated with frontal theta activity in the REM sleep period. No such correlation was observed for older memories, nor for SWS dreams. The emotional intensity of recent waking-life experiences incorporated into dreams was higher than the emotional intensity of experiences that were not incorporated. These results suggest that the formation of wakefulness-related dream content is associated with REM theta activity, and accords with theories that dreaming reflects emotional memory processing taking place in REM sleep.

Indexed as

Life Change EventsDreamsElectroencephalographyEmotionsFemaleFrontal LobeHumansMaleSleep, REMSleep, Slow-WaveWakefulnessYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID29868897
PMCPMC6022568

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.