Do You Ever Only Have Sensory Memory?

**Loaf** · 06-15-2011 11:04 PM

Not sure if I asked this before but...

Ever woken up and you can't remember the dream but you can remember a really strong sensory feeling, like something you touched, or a smell, or a feeling of pain. Even a sort of feeling that I can only describe as "nostalgia" about the dream, or characters in it.

I've got that right now, I have a strong feeling of something soft and silky like a cat as if I'm holding one to my chest and can feel it all over. If I see any animal on TV I get this little click in the back of my head as if there is a relation to a dream I have but I HAVE NO CLUE what the dream was.

GRR

**AURON** · 06-15-2011 11:40 PM

I had that today....woke up thinking about what I was dreaming about, and I couldn't piece anything together. I went about my business and we had a class outside near a lake. Just staring at the lake for a few moments helped me remember what I was dreaming about, even though the dream was totally unrelated.

**ty4TheAdventure** · 06-16-2011 12:19 AM

I get something like that a lot if I can't recall a dream- an emotion or an abstract mood/mindset. My recall is all right, so I usually remember one or more dreams every night. However, when I don't remember a dream, I usually remember something like an abstract feeling or mood, but it doesn't trigger recall.

As for actual sensory perceptions (like tactile)- having memories of just a single sensory perception is rarer for me. If anything, a memory of an emotion or feeling and solely that would be more likely.

I imagine the result for both types of memories would be similar though- an incessant feeling that its connected to a dream you had that for whatever reason you can't recall.

**Loaf** · 06-16-2011 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by PhantomLegend

However, when I don't remember a dream, I usually remember something like an abstract feeling or mood, but it doesn't trigger recall.

YES YES thats it

**Somniloquist** · 06-16-2011 02:08 AM

I often have similar abstract feelings from a dream I can't really remember. It's so frustrating because sometimes I KNOW the dream was really awesome and I want to be able to record it in my dream journal, but I can't put it into words.

Sometimes when I don't remember a dream, I'll be going about daily activities and see/hear/touch/smell something that suddenly gives me intense deja vu from the dream, but it's gone in an instant and any tangible memories of the dream fade before I can piece anything together. Whenever that happens, I usually try to recreate the sensation that gave me deja vu in the first place, and do it over and over again to try to trigger more memories... but it rarely works :/

**ty4TheAdventure** · 06-16-2011 05:03 AM

Hmmm...I'm wondering if this sort of thing could be considered Presque Vu. I came across the term a while back when reading up on Deja vu and it just means a sort of "tip of the tongue" feeling many often get.

Wiki on it - Tip of the tongue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia