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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency
Published on: October 28, 2020
The self and dreams during a period of transition
Caroline L Horton1, Christopher J A Moulin, Martin A Conway
1Psychology, Faculty of Health, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK. c.l.horton04@leeds.ac.uk
Abstract:
The content of dreams and changes to the self were investigated in students moving to University. In study 1, 20 participants completed dream diaries and memory tasks before and after they had left home and moved to university, and generated self images, "I am..." statements (e.g. I am an undergraduate), reflective of their current self. Changes in "I ams" were observed, indicating a newly-formed 'university' self. These self, images and related autobiographical knowledge were found to be incorporated into recent dreams but not into dreams from other periods. Study 2 replicated these findings in a different sample (N=55). We suggest that these data reflect a period of self-consolidation in which new experiences and self images are incorporated into autobiographical memory knowledge structures representing personal goals during sleep.
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