Y: You know, Don, Last night I had a dream in which a little dog hopped up on the hood of my car. And then this morning, as I was parking, a little dog jumped up on my hood! My dream foretold the future--I'm convinced. From now on I'm going to read Shirley MacLaine books instead of all this science stuff.
D: Lots of people have had dreams that seem to foretell the future. Some psychologists attribute this to "retrieval cues."
Y: Retrieval cues?
D: A retrieval cue is a coincidence in the real world that triggers a dream memory which otherwise would have gone unnoticed. For example, did you know you had dreamed about a little dog before the real dog showed up?
Y: Oh, yes! I was thinking about it all morning.
D: (unconvinced): Really?
Y: Well...I think so.
D: Maybe. Or maybe the real event triggered a recollection of a dream, which now seems like it must have been in your thoughts all along. By the way, did you have any other dreams last night that didn't come true?
Y: Hmmm...I don't remember what else I dreamed.
D: Why not? Some studies suggest we have literally hundreds of dreams each night.
Y: Okay, I get the point. Maybe this dreaming the future stuff is more like picking and choosing dreams when they happen to fit.
D: Coincidences are bound to come up. And if the coincidence acts as a retrieval cue, the sense that you predicted something can be pretty convincing...even if it's just a dream.
