Memory is fundamentally reconstructive. A profusion of research in Psychology has shown that human memory is susceptible to interference, and tends to not encode data verbatim. Our expectations and preconceptions heavily influence what we recall, and how we recall it. No one can verify our dream memory but ourselves, and this is contingent upon itself; essentially, we are forced to believe that the memories of previous events are entirely accurate and valid.

So it begs the question: How do we know whether what we recall is what actually happened? It could be that we wake up with a rudimentary outline of last night's dream, and then inadvertently invent the details to 'complete the picture'.

Do we contrive most of last night's dream in the morning?