Do we dream in colour or black and white?

Not remembering colour is different from remembering black and white

Compare “The corridor looked like an old black-and-white photograph” with “I remember a corridor, but not its colour.” The first describes an appearance; the second leaves appearance partly unknown. Neither needs to be rewritten to match the other.

A third account might preserve one bright orange umbrella while leaving the rest of the street unspecified. That is enough to record. One coloured object does not require you to supply a complete palette for the whole scene, just as one grey wall does not establish that everything was grey.

Counting colour words does not count every coloured experience

In Schredl’s 2008 study, 444 participants, mainly psychology students, kept a diary over two weeks. Researchers coded 1,612 dream reports: 75.4% contained no spontaneous colour reference, including black or white. This describes what appeared in the written accounts; it is not a finding that three quarters of the dreams were experienced in monochrome.

A useful reading habit is to ask what was counted before accepting a percentage. Was it a colour word in a narrative, an answer to a direct question, or someone’s estimate of their usual dreams? Those records are not interchangeable. The study’s sample also gives no basis for a precise percentage that applies to every dreamer.

Reading & context: Michael Schredl; Sleep and Hypnosis, 2008, 10(2), 54–60 — Spontaneously Reported Colors in Dreams: Correlations with Attitude Towards Creativity, Personality and Memory[1]

Did black-and-white television change dreams?

Murzyn’s 2008 study compared two age groups with different media histories using questionnaires and diaries. Earlier exposure to black-and-white media was associated with more reported greyscale dreams. That association does not establish that a particular television programme caused a particular dream, or that everyone with the same viewing history will dream alike.

Schwitzgebel’s 2003 questionnaire replication found more reported colour dreaming among 124 students surveyed in 2001 than in the earlier student sample surveyed in 1942. The comparison concerns different groups at different times; it does not follow the same people across their lives. It also leaves open how experience, recall and expectations contribute to an answer.

Reading & context: Eva Murzyn; Consciousness and Cognition, 2008; PubMed abstract — Do we only dream in colour? A comparison of reported dream colour in younger and older adults with different experiences of black and white media[2] · Eric Schwitzgebel; Perceptual and Motor Skills, 2003; PubMed abstract — Do people still report dreaming in black and white? An attempt to replicate a questionnaire from 1942[3]

An invented example: the orange umbrella

This is an invented recording example, not a participant’s dream. Maya remembers waiting at a bus stop beside an orange umbrella. She recognizes the street as somewhere near her old school, but cannot describe the buildings. Her first note says: “Orange umbrella; familiar street; waiting for someone.”

While writing, she pictures the school’s red-brick walls. She can add “The place reminds me of school” as a later association without changing the first note to say she saw red buildings. Recognition of a place, remembered colour and a later waking image can remain separate.

If Maya remembers another detail tomorrow, she can date the addition. Keeping both notes makes the change visible. She does not need to decide whether the whole dream was coloured before preserving the small part that stayed clear.

Does dreaming in colour say something about intelligence or mood?

These studies do not provide a test that lets you infer intelligence, diagnose a mood problem or assess visual ability from one dream’s colours. A memorable palette is a detail to describe, rather than a score to compare with someone else’s account. The guide on blindness addresses sensory reports and visual history as a separate research question.

For personal reflection, ask what a specific colour brings to mind for you. An orange umbrella might recall a person’s coat, a school activity or nothing in particular. Keep any association beside the action: waiting beneath it is a different scene from lending it to someone. Neither the association nor the colour establishes a universal symbolic meaning.

• Do blind people dream? Sensory experience, visual history and the research
• Dream symbols and personal meaning: start with your associations

A short way to record an uncertain palette

Write the scene first, using your own words. Then note the colour details you recall and the parts you cannot describe. This optional aid is for preserving a personal account; it is not a research questionnaire or a test of memory. There is no need to choose a shade simply to finish the entry.

• Remembered appearance: which particular object or part of the scene had a colour?
• Uncertain appearance: what remains unspecified, rather than definitely black and white?
• Sequence: did I notice this detail in the dream account or picture it while writing?
• Later association: what does the colour bring to mind, if anything?

• How to remember your dreams without making mornings a test
• Vivid dreams: why they happen, sudden changes, and when to seek help