Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42850333›Full record

ArticleCommunications psychology2026

A graph theory approach to chart the architecture of dream and mind-wandering reports.

Peter Coppola, Pilleriin Sikka, Katja Valli, Jarno Tuominen, Antti Revonsuo, Ville Loukola, Ryan Bernstein, Nanna Strid, Manuela Kirberg, Alejandro Ezquerro-Nassar and 4 more

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Communications psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing 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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

14 authors.

Peter CoppolaConsciousness and Cognition lab, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8658-7409
Pilleriin SikkaDepartment of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. pilsik@utu.fi.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1926-6138
Katja ValliDepartment of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, and Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5133-8664
Jarno TuominenDepartment of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, and Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3892-3199
Antti RevonsuoDepartment of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, and Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Ville LoukolaDepartment of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, and Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
Ryan BernsteinDepartment of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Nanna StridDepartment of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, and Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6398-0753
Manuela KirbergDepartment of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Alejandro Ezquerro-NassarConsciousness and Cognition lab, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Jennifer WindtDepartment of Philosophy, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Valdas NoreikaCentre for Brain and Behaviour, Department of Psychology, School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
Natália Bezerra MotaInstitute of Psychiatry at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - IPUB/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, BR, Brazil.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2802-2001
Tristan Andres BekinschteinConsciousness and Cognition lab, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5501-8628

Funding

Fundação Bial (Bial Foundation) 312/18
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The language people use to describe their inner experiences arising during sleep and wakefulness provides a window into the mind. Dreams and unguided waking thought, here referred to as mind wandering, are thought to reflect unique individual differences and mental health. Here we use graph theory to analyse a large dataset of dream (n = 1434) and mind wandering (n = 1619) reports from 176 individuals. We found that dream reports have a more complex structure, while mind-wandering reports have fewer word repetitions and are more verbose, with essential transition points in the structure of the texts. Dream reports, which rely on recall over longer periods of time, tend to have more word repetitions, local cliques, and global integration, comparatively indicating a small world structure. Capitalising on a repeated measures design, we found that the structure of dream and mind-wandering reports contains individual-specific information. Finally, we observed that word centrality (i.e., lower lexical diversity) in dream and mind-wandering reports is predictive of depression and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Thus, this approach is sensitive to individual differences, quantitatively differentiates reports of two different states of consciousness, and seems promising for cost-effective analyses of large naturalistically occurring qualitative datasets.

Identifiers

PMID42850333

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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.