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Using the eye-movement criteria developed by Dement and Kleitman, the authors substantiate the hypothesis that many more dreams occur than are usually recalled the morning after and that the difference between dreamers and nondreamers can be attributed to differences in the ability to recall dreams rather than to differences in frequency of dream occurrence. Continuous recordings of eye-movement potentials and EEGs were taken on each subject during three nights of natural sleep. Experimental awakenings from eye-movement periods led to the recall of dreams more frequently than awakenings at other times. The data were consistent with the proposition that a dream is experienced during every eye-movement period. So-called 'nondreamers' were less likely to recall a dream than 'dreamers', but every subject studied, even subjects who said they had never dreamt before, reported at least one dream during the study period. Eye-movement periods occurred as frequently for nondreamers as for dreamers. However, there were significant differences between dreamers and nondreamers in the EEG patterns which occurred during eye-movement periods.