Are dreams in color or black and white?

(Dan Tri) - Scientists believe that the brain may be "coloring" your memories.

Dreams have always been a realm of half-reality, half-fantasy where the human mind operates differently from the waking state. When awake, some people remember vivid details, while others retain only a few fragmented images. But what determines whether we dream in color or not?

This is a topic that has been debated by researchers for decades. It is not only the human brain, but also television, movies and modern technology that have left a deep mark on the way we remember our dreams.

Many people think that dreams are always in color because the real world is also colorful. But this belief is only formed in the last few decades.

In the 1940s, the majority of respondents said their dreams were monochrome. A study conducted in 1942 found that over 70% of college students had never seen color in their dreams.

Decades later, the same question was asked to a different group of students. The results were reversed.

Only about 20% said they rarely saw color in their dreams. This change doesn’t reflect the evolution of the human brain, but suggests something more interesting: dreams are influenced by how we see the world when we’re awake.

Experts believe that the way we remember our dreams is influenced by the TV shows and movies we watch. (Photo: Vasilina Popova).

Media affects the inner world

Every experience of the day is reflected in our sleep. As movies, television, and visual technology have moved from monochrome to vibrant color, the way we remember our dreams has changed.

Researchers found that people born in the era of black-and-white movies tended to describe dreams in less color than the generation that grew up with color screens. Thus, dream imagery is not only a reflection of the inner self, but also of the everyday visual environment.

However, media is not the only factor that influences how we remember dreams.

Michael Schredl, a sleep researcher in Germany, asserts that the deciding factor is how much detail a person remembers. Memory does not record everything, but only retains what makes a strong impression.

In dreams, an object of a familiar color is easily overlooked. A yellow banana is hardly noticed. But if it turns neon pink, that detail immediately makes a strong impression and becomes a prominent memory.

The colors in dreams can be faint or clear, depending on how different they are from expectations.

Additionally, colors that have personal meaning are more likely to be remembered. A color that is associated with strong emotions or important memories in real life is more likely to appear in dreams.

Dreams don't work like movies

Many people assume that dreams are a form of “inner film,” with images, colors, and story lines like a movie. But according to professor Eric Schwitzgebel, that may be an illusion.

“Not all dream experiences are visual in nature. Some dreams are abstract, some waking memories are constructed from assumptions rather than actual experiences,” he said.

The brain can "color" dreams according to familiar images in life (Photo: Getty).

Humans tend to fill in the blanks with habit. When recalling a scene that is not colorful, the brain may “color” it based on what is familiar. If we are exposed to colorful images every day, the dream memory is likely to be colored in that way, even if the actual dream experience was completely different.

According to Schwitzgebel, many people don’t really understand what it means to dream in color or black and white. It’s a fuzzy, undefined visual experience.

Dreams can be feelings, thoughts, an emotional flow, or simply a formless stream of consciousness.

So, when we ask “are dreams in color?”, we are probably asking the wrong question in the first place. The question should be: what do we actually remember and what is automatically reconstructed by the brain after waking?

When memory is guided by emotions and expectations

Memory is not neutral. It is guided by emotions, context, and personal expectations. In a dream, if a color does not play an emotional role, it will be easily forgotten.

Conversely, a detail that is unusual or tied to personal emotions will be retained.

Furthermore, the ability to remember dreams varies from person to person. Some people wake up and write down each scene. Others only remember fragments or forget them completely. It is in this vagueness that the imagination begins to intervene.

When a person recounts a dream, they are not just reliving memories, but reconstructing the dream in a way that makes sense to them logically and personally. Gaps are filled in with familiar images, sometimes with details that were not present in the original dream.

Modern media, with its rich colors and fast pace, reinforces the idea that dreams must be colorful. But when the mind enters sleep, it does not need to follow the visual rules of the real world.

Remembering colors in dreams depends not only on the biological nature of dreams, but is also strongly influenced by living environment, memory, visual perception habits, and the way people assign meaning to experiences.

Dreams are, after all, a personal journey where the mind is free to go beyond the usual visual rules. So whether you dream in color or black and white may say more about you than the dream itself.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc/giac-mo-co-mau-hay-den-trang-20251110121614424.htm