Recalling Lucids vs. Non-Lucids

A thought occurred to me, and I don't remember seeing a thread about this anywhere, so I figured I'd risk making one.

Anyways, I've noticed that I have absolutely no difficulty recalling lucid dreams. In normal dreams, I tend to lose a lot of detail merely upon waking, but in lucids I can easily remember the most minute details many weeks later. Even if I don't write them down.

So, I was wondering if it's common to have such a difference in the ability to recall lucid vs. non-lucid dreams. More than that, I was wondering, if this turns out to be commonplace, what causes this. I have some ideas, but I want to hear from others first, since my knowledge of the working brain, during sleep, is only sub-par.

mmm, I think it's just common sense.
in a lucid dream you are aware of your surroundings, and aware that you are dreaming, so things tend to get more vivid.
for me it happens the same on Real Life when I do Dream Yoga, there are moments in where things get very vivid and beautiful.
so I think it's like that.

Sorry, my wording was confusing. When I say "details" I mean occurrences and events more than I do the actual physical details of the dream world.

Also, I've had pretty crappy lucids where the vividness was not on par with that of other non-lucids. Even when that happens, I still remember more of the "details" concerning the crappy lucid than I do the awesome non-lucid.

Edit: I guess I can just cut out all the clutter and phrase my question in two sentences. Can you recall lucids better and easier than non-lucids? If so, why do you think this is, physiologically speaking?

I get what your saying...I am only to the body control part of lucid dreaming. When I LD, I am ususally in a plain square room...no pictures, no designs....nothing. But I can do some cool stuff. I have only had a few so I try to keep myself from trying to much so I don't wake myself up.

Yep, recalling lucids for me is easy too. I mean, every day I think about lucid dreaming, so whenever I do, I have a sudden recollection of the dream.

well, it makes sense that you'd recall a lucid dream better - you don't remember things you pay little attention to in daily life either. me, i spend more time writing down lucids than normal dreams because they aren't rubbish and are worth remembering.

Okay, I'm not the only one that suspects the awareness itself has something to do with this. So, why does awareness play such an important role in recall? Is the fact that you're actively processing these thoughts and ideas making them more ingrained in your memory?

I really wish I knew more about the brain, and memory.

memory requires attention, it's as simple as that. your short term memory will transfer over to long term memory if it's emphasized more, and the content of a lucid dream is definitely emphasized more than a non-lucid.

Think of it this way. You will probably remember more details about a beautiful landscape if you are actually THERE, rather than just seeing it on TV.

When you are dreaming normally, you are viewing everything passively, as if you were watching TV. If you're lucid, you obviously pay more attention because you're actually there.


As a side note, most people have a greater desire to remember lucids than they to non-lucids. That also has a lot to do with it.

i hope this is so because i want to remember mah lucid dreams

Hm, I remember reading once that it was because of attention needed for some kind of memory... not sure of it though, for me its the same, but remembering non-lucids isn't necessary lol

I SUCK at remembering non lucids. 90% of dreams that I remember are lucid or they are non lucid in terms of the definition but I still have control and rational thought just the though never occurs to me that it could be a dream even though I am obviously using powers and pulling out knowledge of things I dont have in RL.