Thread: False Memories in Dreams?

This is such a weird phenomenon that I've experienced more than once in lucid and non-lucid dreams, but I've actually had false memories. Recently, I had a non-lucid dream that I visited a camp that I never went to and started reminiscing in false camp memories with a counselor I "remembered." I discussed the field trip I never went on and talked about all the photos I never took. It all felt so real they they were real memories! Crazy. Anyone ever experience anything like this?

I have kinda the same thing but in real life. I have memories of events that no one else seems to know about and I sometimes mess up dreams with reality.

So you confuse memories of dreams with memories of reality? O_o

Originally Posted by GoliathTheWulf

This is such a weird phenomenon that I've experienced more than once in lucid and non-lucid dreams, but I've actually had false memories. Recently, I had a non-lucid dream that I visited a camp that I never went to and started reminiscing in false camp memories with a counselor I "remembered." I discussed the field trip I never went on and talked about all the photos I never took. It all felt so real they they were real memories! Crazy. Anyone ever experience anything like this?

This is not so crazy. In fact, it's pretty much normal. In the same way that your dreaming mind produces worlds to which you've never been before, and introduces you to people you've never met, it supplies you with "memories" of things that never happened. In fact, incorrect memories can be used as dream signs for lucidity, if they pop up often enough. So don't be concerned about incorrect memories; instead, take advantage of them!

Originally Posted by Sageous

This is not so crazy. In fact, it's pretty much normal. In the same way that your dreaming mind produces worlds to which you've never been before, and introduces you to people you've never met, it supplies you with "memories" of things that never happened. In fact, incorrect memories can be used as dream signs for lucidity, if they pop up often enough. So don't be concerned about incorrect memories; instead, take advantage of them!

I see. But the strange thing is I believe they are real even when I'm lucid.

Originally Posted by GoliathTheWulf

I see. But the strange thing is I believe they are real even when I'm lucid.

Of course you do. They wouldn't be "memories" if they didn't seem real. Even when Lucid. Which leads you to your next lucid quest, I would imagine: learn to tap your actual memory during dreams to use as the final source for discerning which dreams are real, and which are just being made for tonight's dreams. If you are squarely aware of your self, that your sleeping body awaits somewhere, and that there is a chance that these memories might not be real, discerning real memories from dreaming-mind created memories might be a bit easier, and the act of doing so telling.

Originally Posted by Sageous

Of course you do. They wouldn't be "memories" if they didn't seem real. Even when Lucid. Which leads you to your next lucid quest, I would imagine: learn to tap your actual memory during dreams to use as the final source for discerning which dreams are real, and which are just being made for tonight's dreams. If you are squarely aware of your self, that your sleeping body awaits somewhere, and that there is a chance that these memories might not be real, discerning real memories from dreaming-mind created memories might be a bit easier, and the act of doing so telling.

That's a very interesting concept. I think I'll try that next time I'm lucid. Thanks! Well said, by the way.

Originally Posted by GoliathTheWulf

That's a very interesting concept. I think I'll try that next time I'm lucid. Thanks! Well said, by the way.

Thanks, and I hope it works for you!

No problem... Good Luck!

This used to happen to me a lot. Dream settings - swimming pools, parks etc. would feel intensely familiar. When I woke up and remembered what I was dreaming about they'd first feel just as familiar for about 5 minutes until I tried to recall exactly where they were and when I'd last visited them when awake. Then my strong belief in them would slowly crumble away as I realised they didn't really exist. It felt like overcoming a kind of senility every morning, even though I was in my teens. I guess I learned to dismiss the strong feelings of familiarity after a while and it stopped happening. I still remember the false memories as feeling eerily powerful though.

Yeah, I know what you mean! The false memories felt as real as any other feeling of nostalgia. Freaky, right? There should be research going on about this!

Well, it's because false memories and almost literally everything else you create and absorb are derivatives of something else. False memories feel so real since the mind's eye utilizes real things, concepts, and events to create them.

That's fascinating.

I think the difference is, mikeac, at the same time that I felt the dream settings to be real places, I knew that the scenes that took place in them were not real and never happened. It wasn't that my whole dream felt like a memory, only the setting.

Originally Posted by Groke

I think the difference is, mikeac, at the same time that I felt the dream settings to be real places, I knew that the scenes that took place in them were not real and never happened. It wasn't that my whole dream felt like a memory, only the setting.

It's essentially the same thing. The whole dream doesn't necessarily need to feel real, as your mind can pick up on things that only in a state of awareness can you realize that whatever you're looking at probably doesn't exist outside your dream. The things your mind doesn't pick up on, however, is the kicker - your mind created a convincing setting using other settings you have seen, and that is why at least that portion of your dream feels real.

I have something similar. Not exactly the same, I don't think. I'll often have dreams where I'll feel like I'm picking up in the middle of a story, and I'll have memories of the beginning of the story. When I wake up, it feels like maybe it's the continuation of a dream I've dreamed before, but I can't usually find it looking back at past dreams. I imagine dreams and memories are pretty closely entwined; it doesn't surprise me too much that they cross into each other.

I too had noticed that I remembered things that weren't real memories, while in dreams, but after a lot of thinking and noticing I noticed that indeed they weren't "real life" memories; but instead they are memories of past dreams. When you start to remember a lot of dreams you'll probably notice that.

But why do you not remember those things or settings, when you are awake. Well, they are still in your brain they just need an anchor to bring them to the surface.
So unless you see the same place again you will never think about it or even remember it exists.