Dreaming is a conscious experience in its own right: proponents of non-cognitive and non-executive theories of dreaming suffer from a retrospective illusion of their waking extended self.
Consciousness and cognition May 30, 2025 Ludwig Crespin
Dreaming consciousness is not fundamentally different from waking consciousness. The claim that dreams lack cognitive access or executive control is false because dream recall itself proves the dreamer noticed the experience, and dream reports show dreamers rationally assess situations and self-regulate within dreams. However, dreamers have reduced extended consciousness with limited access to their waking autobiographical self, which creates the retrospective illusion that the dream ego lacks rational control. The autobiographical self that regulates and recollects the dream is not the same as the waking one. Dreams occurring during sleep are still conscious experiences in their own right.