Answer: Many possible exceptions can be thought of
in  advance,   and   they   do  seem  to  present  problems.
However,  in  actual practice,  you  will rarely encounter
such  exceptions,   for  the  scale  has  been  constructed
from typical patterns of recall actually observed.  If you
do encounter such  an exception, use the rating category
which   fits   best   and   which   portrays,   in   a   manner
consistent  with  the  rest  of  your ratings,  how much of
your dream you recall.  With  such  exceptions you can't
always be "right," but you can be "appropriate."
     Question: Since you can never be really sure that you
are remembering all of the dream,  how can you ever use
the W category?
      Answer:  It's  best  not  to  get  too  philosophical  or
literal  about the rating system.  We don't expect perfect
recall  of  a  dream,   and   if   there  are  no  serious  and
frustrating  gaps  in  the  memory of a dream,  use the W
rating.

Qualitative Recall
      This   second   system   of   rating   dream   recall   is
concerned    with    the    vividness    or    clarity   of   the
remembered  dream.   Whereas  the  first  rating  system
asked you to estimate the relative completeness of your
memory  of  the dream,  this second system  asks you to
rate the vividness of what you do remember. The various
vividness  categories  of  this   qualitative   recall   rating
system  ask  you  to  review  your memory of  the dream
and  examine  it  for  the  presence  of various qualitative
dimensions of experience.  Use  of this rating system as
a  discipline   has   resulted   in   increased   richness   of
memory for dreams.
      To  explain  the  use  of  this  system,  we'll  take  the
example  of  the  Color  category:  "I  was  driving  down
Main  Street  in  my  convertible  when  the  traffic  light
flashed  red  and  I  had  to slam on my brakes."  Color is
present in this dream,  and  is even recorded here,  in the
word  "red,"  but does  the dreamer recall actually seeing
the  redness  of  the  light,  or  does he recall mainly the
idea of a red light- i.e.,  "STOP" image?  If the recall was
mainly of the idea, the dream would be scored "1" on the
color  scale;   if  the  recall  was  actually  of  seeing  the

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