Article Title
Abstract
Project Summary: This study is being done to test one aspect of how paying attention to one’s dreams may influence our waking lives. The idea was inspired by research linking the brain processes involved in long-term memory storage to qualities of dreaming, as well as the potential for learning in lucid dreams. It is hypothesized that the more conscious one is of one’s dreams and dream world, the better one will be at learning. In order to test this, the dreaming ability of 300 Cal Poly students will be analyzed via dream questionnaires with the purpose of seeing if any correlation exists between their variation in dreaming and their variation in grade point average (GPA). Dreaming will be assessed in terms of dream recall frequency and dream intensity. Data analysis will be done via three regression analyses, which will be made with respect to (1) dreaming intensity and GPA, (2) dream recall frequency and GPA, and (3) total dream score and GPA. Furthermore, an experimental group (n=25) of students will listen to a weekly dream education podcast as well as keep a daily dream journal for three quarters. A control group (n=25) will listen to weekly podcasts on random topics pertaining to dreams, but with no content about how to better improve their dreaming abilities and will be instructed to keep a journal about daily thoughts and occurrences. Both groups will retake the dream questionnaire and submit their new GPA at the end of each quarter, for a total duration of three quarters. Change in dreaming abilities as well as change in grade point average will be measured via one-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) for each group and each factor (GPA and total dream score). The experiment will cost $500 and will be completed in under a year on campus at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The expected results will be used as evidence supporting the implementation of dreaming as a core subject in the nation’s school system.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
Recommended Citation
Gibbons, Cody Mebane
(2014)
"Dreams and Learning,"
Symposium:
Vol. 1:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15368/symp.2014v1n1.5
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/symposium/vol1/iss1/3
