IMT卢卡高等研究院、Sapienza罗马大学和卡梅利诺大学的联合研究推翻了梦境随意产生的传统认知。[1]研究人员分析了来自287名年龄在18至70岁参与者提交的3700多份梦境和清醒报告，历时两周，利用自然语言处理技术揭示了梦境的真实成因。[1]
研究表明，梦境并非对日常经历的简单重放，而是大脑将记忆、情感、想象和现实细节重新组合的复杂过程。[1]个人特质对梦境形成产生了直接影响：容易心境游移的人的梦境呈现片段化且变化迅速，而重视梦境本身的人则经历更加生动详尽的梦幻体验。[1]外部事件同样塑造梦的内容——在COVID-19封锁期间，参与者的梦中出现了更强烈的情绪反应，以及更频繁的关于限制、束缚和禁闭的主题。[1]
论文主要作者Valentina Elce指出："梦不仅是过去经历的反映，而是由我们是谁以及我们经历的事物塑造的动态过程。"[1]这项研究已于2026年发表在《Communications Psychology》期刊上。[1]
Researchers at IMT Lucca Advanced School have found that dreams are far from random mental noise, but rather emerge from a complex interplay of personal personality traits, sleep quality, psychological characteristics, and real-world events [1]. Rather than serving as simple replays of daily experiences, dreams represent an active process in which the brain recombines memories, emotions, imagination, and factual details into entirely new scenarios [1].
The study analyzed over 3,700 dream and waking reports from 287 participants aged 18 to 70, collected over a two-week period during which subjects recorded both their dreams and everyday experiences [1]. Using natural language processing technology to examine linguistic patterns and semantic structures, researchers identified distinct correlations between individual characteristics and dream content [1]. Those prone to mind-wandering experienced more fragmented dreams with rapid shifts, while individuals who placed greater value on their dreams reported more vivid and detailed nocturnal narratives [1]. During COVID-19 lockdowns, dreams contained notably stronger emotional intensities and increased references to restriction, confinement, and closure [1].
Lead author Valentina Elce articulated the research's central insight: "Dreams are not merely reflections of past experiences, but rather dynamic processes shaped by who we are and what we experience" [1]. The findings, published in Communications Psychology in 2026, demonstrate that dreams function as a sophisticated cognitive mechanism through which the sleeping brain actively rewrites and reconfigures elements of reality [1].