A review of 69 awakening studies from 2000 to 2024 found that how people are awakened and their personal traits strongly affect whether they recall dreams or thoughts upon waking. Recall rates were lower when an alarm was used compared to calling a participant's name, and recall decreased over multiple study days. People awakened at home reported more experiences than those in a lab. Participant characteristics beyond age and sex, such as openness to experience, also influenced recall. These factors can alter study outcomes, including the identification of neural correlates of consciousness, so greater attention to awakening methods and participant traits is needed.
People report dreaming most of the time when awakened from sleep, even during deep sleep. A review of 69 awakening studies from 2000 to 2024 found that how you wake up matters: being called by name leads to better dream recall than being woken by an alarm. Dream recall is higher at home than in a laboratory and decreases when participants are studied over multiple days. Personal characteristics beyond age and sex also affect recall. Null reports were similar in NREM stage 2 and stage 3 sleep. The findings suggest that both the awakening method and participant traits influence what people report, which can affect research on the neural correlates of consciousness.