# Why We Remember Some Dreams

IELTS Academic Reading - 14 questions - 20 minutes - Matching information, Yes / No / Not Given, Multiple choice, Matching sentence endings, Table completion

Source: Written by Testmigo.

## The passage

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27, which are based on the passage below.

**A** Almost everyone dreams several times a night, yet most people can describe only a handful of dreams each month. For decades this gap was explained as simple forgetting: dreams were thought to be too strange and too disconnected from daily life to be stored. More recent research suggests a different picture, in which remembering a dream depends less on the dream itself than on what happens in the brain shortly afterwards.

**B** In one well-known study, volunteers were woken by an alarm at random points during the night and asked to report anything they had been experiencing. Those woken directly from rapid eye movement sleep, known as REM sleep, described vivid dreams on roughly eight out of ten occasions. Those woken from deeper stages of sleep reported dreams far less often, and their reports tended to be short and thought-like rather than story-like.

**C** Brain scans help to explain the difference. During REM sleep, the regions that handle emotion and visual imagery are highly active, while the levels of a chemical called noradrenaline, which helps the brain store new memories, fall sharply. A dream can therefore be rich and emotional while it is happening, but unless the sleeper wakes up within a minute or two, there is little chemical support for keeping a record of it.

**D** This may explain why people who report many dreams are not necessarily better dreamers. When researchers compared frequent recallers with people who rarely remember dreams, they found that the frequent recallers woke up briefly more often during the night, usually without noticing. Each of these short awakenings appears to give the brain a chance to save the last few moments of a dream.

**E** In my view, the most useful finding is also the simplest. People who wish to remember more of their dreams can keep a notebook beside the bed and write a few words before doing anything else on waking, even before checking a phone. Within two weeks, most people who try this report recalling dreams more often, which suggests that recall is a habit that can be trained rather than a fixed personal trait.

## Questions

### Questions 14-17: Matching information

The passage has five paragraphs, A-E. Which paragraph contains the following information? You may use any letter more than once.

14. a reference to an experiment that used alarms

15. a comparison between two groups of people

16. a description of a chemical change during sleep

17. a practical suggestion for the reader

### Questions 18-20: Yes / No / Not Given

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer? Choose YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer, NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer, or NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this.

18. Remembering dreams is a skill that people can improve.

19. People who remember many dreams have more interesting dreams than other people.

20. Dream research should receive more government funding.

### Question 21: Multiple choice

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

21. According to the passage, why are most dreams forgotten?
   - A. They are too strange to make sense to the sleeper.
   - B. The brain gives little support to storing memories during REM sleep.
   - C. People are usually in deep sleep when they dream.
   - D. Most people dream only a few times each month.

### Questions 22-24: Matching sentence endings

Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E, below.

- **A** usually describe short, thought-like experiences.
- **B** give the brain a chance to save part of a dream.
- **C** report dreams more often within two weeks.
- **D** are better at imagining visual scenes.
- **E** forget most of their dreams within an hour.

22. People woken from deep sleep

23. Brief awakenings during the night

24. People who write notes immediately on waking

### Questions 25-27: Table completion

Complete the table below. Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Stage of sleep | What the brain does | Effect on dreams
REM sleep | regions for emotion and visual **(25)** _____ are active | dreams are vivid
REM sleep | noradrenaline levels **(26)** _____ | dreams are hard to store
Brief awakenings | the last moments of a dream are **(27)** _____ | dreams are recalled more often

[Practice online with a timer and instant marking](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/why-we-remember-dreams) - [Answers and explanations](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/why-we-remember-dreams/answers)