[Does repression explain the forgetting of dreams? An experimental approach to Freud's theory of dreams]

An experiment was carried out to test whether forgetting of dream material is due to repression. Under this assumption one would expect that free associations starting from forgotten elements encounter successively growing resistance. Subjects brought along notes of dreams and were later tested for recognition of short sequences of their dreams. In addition, they produced free associations to 5 elements they had remembered and to 5 elements not identified in the recognition test. Skin conductance responses (SCR) and perceived unpleasantness were recorded. The main results were: In comparison to recognized dream material, unrecognized elements elicited associations accompanied by greater psychophysiologic activation. During associations to the latter stimuli, increase of SCR was more frequent. Our findings are in line with Freud's assumption that forgetting of dreams is an effect of repression.