Is it normal to dream of people you've never seen?

Sometimes in my dreams, one or more of the people im around are people i've never seen or met before. How is it possible that my mind can generate such vivid, unique, and specific faces?

My guess is that at some point in my life i've seen these people, maybe in a crowded area by chance, and their image stayed buried in my subconscious for months or years. What do you think?

It is possible to dream of new faces. 86
It's not possible. You probably saw them at some point. 50
I don't know. 16
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Comments ( 14 )
  • disthing

    What do you think an imagination is?

    Of course you can imagine unique faces when asleep, in so much as I can imagine a pink cycling dinosaur. I've never seen a pink cycling dinosaur BUT I have seen a bicycle and I have seen Jurassic Park. Our brains can put 2 and 2 together, and a lot larger numbers too. You've seen millions of noses and eyes and ears and mouths etc. so your brain can 'fill in the gaps' :)

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  • Chillpill

    I've also heard of the theory that the human brain doesn't have the capacity to assemble new faces. I think it's commonly mentioned in dream dictionaries, but I've never seen an explanation for it. Like others said: how do they know? From personal experience I'm not sure. Faces are usually not very vivid features in my dreams. When I dream of someone I simply know it's them without first identifying the face.

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    • yeah ive heard that too! er about how we can't invent new ppl and theyre all just strangers weve seen before

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  • Anonymous182

    I have dreams lke this all the time. There's one dream that I won't forget. I was in a city. I don't know what city it was, but I was there and I was invisible. I could see people and they couldnt see me. There was a guy that I saw in this dream. He wasn't anyone that I knew in real life or recognized from anywhere, but I could hear his thoughts. He was in a park looking for his daughter. She had been missing for a few weeks and he thought she'd be there. Sure enough, she was sitting on the swings like a zombie. I had never seen his young girl before either.

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  • 23unforgivin23

    Might sound weird but
    In the past two years, dreamd i had 4 5 years ago
    Are like i dunno.
    I sit in class and a sub would walk in, and he would
    Look too familair
    And so would the whole class till i remember. I
    The dream, and thatscwhen the dream would stop
    Deja vu, i think
    Thts how it started

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  • audiofilth

    People were saying that our minds cannot create a face we have not seen before! Of course we can! We can imagine anything. Our minds can create images. Imagine a girl with blonde hair, a beachball shaped head and a giraffes neck. See we can imagine all sorts!! :D

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  • well, im having sex with succubus in my dream!

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  • melloelf

    i cant remember where i heard this, but whatever..
    i heard that its not possible to make up people in dreams, you'd be suprised how much you remember subconciously, aparently everyone you see in a dream you've seen at some point in your life.
    but dont quote me on this, since i dont even remember where the fuck i heard this haha

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  • I've read in several places that it is not possible for the human brain to configure new faces. everybody in your dream you have seen at some point in your life. (apparently)

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  • Angel_in_a_Glass_Dress

    New faces?

    I've dreamed of people that never existed before.

    And I've also dreamed of people I know who looked nothing like the real person. In fact ... it's so rare that when someone actually looks like themselves I actually take note of it inside the dream

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  • clockgears

    i hope its normal.it happens to me all the time :p except the faces are usualy disoriented;i can never remember them. I always seem to (in my dream) know the person

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  • yes elvis

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  • NothingxCrazy

    I did it last night. It doesn't seem abnormal to me. I'm sure you've seen them at one point or another throughout your life and your subconscious takes it in thus reproducing the imagine in your dreams.

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  • Aries

    Most likely you would have seen them at some point and just not recognize them in the dream.

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