Synesthetes' dreams show distinct themes, study finds
Feb 22nd 2026
A computational analysis of 2,337 Reddit dream reports found self-identified synesthetes more often described dreams about digital life, interpersonal regret, diverse worlds, and violent conflict, but the sample relied on self-report and lacked clinical verification.
- Researchers analyzed 2,337 dream reports, including 1,169 from self-identified synesthetes and 1,168 matched controls.
- Computational linguistics and machine learning grouped dreams into 20 broad themes and achieved modest classification accuracy between groups.
- Synesthete dreams were more likely to feature digital life, interpersonal regret and repair, diverse or shifting worlds, and violent conflict.
- Explicit mentions of classic synesthetic sensory pairings were rare in the dream reports.
- Key limitations include self-identification of synesthesia, possible demographic differences between groups, and selection bias from online dream sharing.