When did people start dreaming in black and white?
Dreaming in color vs. black and white has long fascinated psychologists and neuroscientists. When and why did the shift from monochrome to color dreams occur? Let’s explore what science has revealed about this curious phenomenon.
Theories on when color dreams began
There are several theories on when people began dreaming in color:
After the advent of color movies and TV
One common theory is that dreams were predominately in black and white until the advent of color movies and TV in the 1930s and 1940s. Once people started seeing movies and shows in vibrant color during their waking lives, the theory goes, their dreams began reflecting this.
However, studies have found that a significant portion of people born before color TV already dreamed in color. This suggests color dreaming predated these technologies.
After the Civil War
Research by historian Eva H.D. Tihanyi has argued that color dreams only became common after the Civil War. She found very few references to colored dreams in literature and accounts before 1865. Tihanyi proposes that the carnage of the war triggered psychological changes that made people dream more vividly.
In ancient and premodern times
Some scholars counter that color dreams are likely as old as humankind. They argue there is not enough surviving firsthand accounts from ancient history to prove when color dreams began.
Descriptions of colorful dreams can be found in the ancient Egyptian Book of Dreams, dating back to 2000-4000 BC. References to colored dreams also exist in ancient Greek and biblical texts. This suggests people have reported chromatic dreams for millennia.
When did studies confirm color dreams?
While we may never know for certain when people first started dreaming in color, scientific studies in the 20th century started documenting instances of colored dreams empirically:
1921
One of the first studies on the prevalence of color vs black and white dreams was published in 1921 by psychologist Mary Arnold-Foster. She surveyed over 100 college students and found about 25% almost always dreamed in color, 8% frequently did, and only 4% never did. About 60% dreamed in both black and white and color.
1950s
Additional studies in the 1950s reinforced the finding that a significant portion of dreams contain color. In 1951, dream researcher Herman Witkin confirmed through surveys that some people consistently report dreaming in color.
Another study in 1954 by Holloway found that 68% of dreams contained some color.
| Study | Year | % of dreams with some color |
|---|---|---|
| Arnold-Foster | 1921 | 25-33% |
| Witkin | 1951 | 28% |
| Holloway | 1954 | 68% |
1960s
More rigorous scientific examination of dream color vs black and white perception continued in the 1960s.
In 1966, dream scientist Calvin S. Hall collected over 50,000 dream reports from college students. He found that only 4.4% contained no color at all. About 75% contained some color, and 20.6% contained a lot of color.
Another 1966 study by Schwitzgebel found that 79% of dreams contained at least some color.
These more robust studies clearly showed that not only do some people dream in color, but most dreams contain at least some color elements.
Factors impacting black and white vs. color dreams
Researchers have studied what factors make an individual more likely to dream in black and white or color. Key influences include:
Age
Younger people today dream in color more often than older adults. A 2007 study by Murzyn found 18-25 year olds dreamed in color about 85% of the time, compared to 61-63% among 45-60 year olds. The age when color TV became popular may account for some of this difference.
Personal associations
People who have strong personal associations with black and white media report more monochrome dreams. Those whose childhood TV exposure or favorite movies were largely in black and white tend to dream this way more as well.
Emotion intensity
Highly emotional dreams are more likely to contain color than mundane dreams. Perhaps the brain uses color to intensify emotion when dreaming.
Lighting
Dreaming with the light on is linked to more black and white dreams. Keeping a night light on or curtains open at night reduces color in dreams. Total darkness seems to encourage more vibrant color dreams.
| Factor | Association with B&W dreams |
|---|---|
| Older age | More common |
| B&W media exposure | More common |
| Low emotion dreams | More common |
| Light at night | More common |
Theories on why we dream in color
Why does the brain use color in dreams at all? Some explanations researchers have proposed include:
Color vision development
We develop the ability to perceive color as infants. Some speculate that dreams replay color experiences to reinforce this new neurological development.
Emotion and meaning
Color may reflect unconscious feelings, symbolism, or meaning associated with different colors. Red may represent anger or passion, while blue symbolizes sadness. Dreams may use color to express these associations.
Memory sources
Our color dreams often draw from waking color memories. If you dream about a childhood home or item, your mind paints it in the original colors. Dreams recreate experiences using colors encoded in memory.
Stimulus incorporation
External stimuli during sleep can get incorporated into dreams. Light entering your eyelids while dreaming may trigger more black and white dreams. Auditory cues also cause the brain to conjure associated colors in dreams.
Do other species dream in color?
Given that color vision emerged well before humans, do other species see colored dreams? This question remains unresolved, but some insights exist:
Animals with color vision likely dream in color
Most mammals see some color, though not as vividly as humans. Since colored sight affects dreaming in people, scientists assume mammals like cats, dogs, and monkeys probably dream in muted color.
Animals without color vision dream in black and white (or even less)
Many species only see shades of gray. Recent research confirmed that mice dream primarily in black and white. Animals like sharks that only detect brightness likely only “dream” in black and white and greyscale.
Birds and turtles likely experience colorful dreams
Birds can see a wider color spectrum than humans with tetra-chromatic vision. Given birds’ broader color perception, their dreams presumably contain a fantastically colorful palette.
Turtles are also tetra-chromats and may experience even more vibrant color dreams than birds and humans.
Insects and simple life forms probably don’t dream in color
Insects and very simple animals probably don’t experience REM sleep or episodic dreams like humans. Even if they did dream, their minimal brains likely wouldn’t construct color imagery.
| Animal | Color Vision? | Color Dreams? |
|---|---|---|
| Mammals | Limited color | Muted color likely |
| Birds | Enhanced color | Very colorful likely |
| Fish | Most see color | Some color likely |
| Insects | Minimal color | Unlikely |
Conclusion
When did dreams shift from black and white to color? The timeline remains uncertain, but scientific evidence confirms colored dreams are a normal part of human cognition and have been reported for centuries. Cultural and technological changes may have made color dreams more prevalent and vivid over history.
People likely dreamed in muted color far before color movies and media came about, even if black and white dreaming remained common. The advent of color TV and film perhaps boosted color saturation, emotion, and memorability of dreams. But colored dreams seem always to have coexisted with monochrome ones as part of the human experience.