A study of the sources of nap mentation in the light of the continuity theory

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to describe the properties of sources of mentation during morning naps. The analyzed sources, which consisted in waking-life events and concerns, were obtained by asking the participants, immediately after their naps, for a report of their mentation and for associations with the various mentation items. The participants comprised 18 Italian students aged 19-22 years, 12 females and 6 males. All participants reported mentation, which was rich and articulated in most cases, and all but one indicated the mentation sources with precision and in detail. The properties of these sources were consistent with those reported in the literature for night dreams. In fact: (a) most participants (n = 14) indicated three or more detailed sources; (b) all of the sources were correlated with present concerns of the participants; (c) most participants (n=13) indicated more than one present concern; (d) in all cases conceptual and/or emotional links connecting at least two sources (three or more for nine participants) provided the set of sources with a network structure; (e) for almost all the participants (n=16) the links between sources determined a change of negative waking-life content into positive, and this change was actually realized in the mentation experience.