Investigated the relationship of very early memories and current dream recall. Data on early memories-for the first 3 years of life and for ages 4 through 6were obtained by questionnaire. Dream reports were recorded at home over a 9-night period. A positive relationship was found between the number of nights for which dreams were recorded and memories reported for ages 4 through 6. Dream report was unrelated to memories reported for the first 3 years of life.
Both recollections of early experiences and dream reports are important clinical data. Both sets of data are presumed subject to the normal attrition of memory loss, and both have been theorized to be subject to psychodynamic distortions. Freud, for example, postulated that dream reports were influenced by a variety of defensive processes and that bland early memories could serve as screens for more, significant events (Freud, 1950). The Adlerians tend to see both reports of early memories and dreams as expressions of one's life style (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956). Given these theorctical viewpoints, it seemed worthwhile to explore for possible relationships between these two sets of clinical data.
We elected to focus on two indices of dream recall and two periods of early memory. The two indices of dream recall were (1) written dream reports: the number of nights for which dreams were reported in a given period; and (2) "contentless dreams :" recollections of having dreamt, but inability to recall details about the dreams. There has been some evidence (Goodenough, Witkin, Lewis, Koulack, & Cohen, 1974) that contentless dream reports increase after exposure to emotionally arousing films. The effect may be related to the Freudian concept of after expulsion of dream content.
Two levels of early memory selected were the first 3 years of life and ages 4 through 6. I n general, we assumed that adult memory for the latter period would be more accurate, and we hypothesized a positive relationship between the number of such memories recalled and the number of nights for which dreams were recorded.