Dement And Kletmen (1957) Mandatory Flashcards
Aim
To study REM sleep to see if dreaming occurs during REM, study length of REM and the pattern of eye movement in relation to dream content.
Procedure
9 participants (7 men + 2 women) were observed and studied during sleep using EEG scanners. Participants were awoken at different sleep stages by the sound of a door bell, and asked if they were dreaming, if so they were asked if they were dreaming for 5 or 15 minutes and the content of the dream.
Findings
Found that participants awoken in REM sleep claimed they were dreaming or remember their dream far more often than participants awoken during non-REM (153 recalled during REM compared to 11 during non-REM). Therefore, people dream more in REM and dreams can be located. Further, accuracy of estimating the duration to REM was very high (88% for 5 mins and 78% for 15 mins), therefore we dream in real time. Additionally, eye movement patterns were related to dream content which suggests that there is visual tracking of the dream.
Conclusion
Dreams can be objectively measured.
Evaluation: Weaknesses
(4)
It was a laboratory experiment and so lacks ecological validity and results cannot be viewed in relation to real life situations.
Further, there was a small sample size and so results can’t be generalised to entire population.
Additionally, participant variables have to be taken into account, such as a large meal or stress.
In addition, the majority of participants were male and therefore it is harder to generalise the results it to the entire population.
Evaluation: Strengths
It was a lab experiment meaning that it was highly controlled and so the experiment could be recreated. As a results the study was incredibly influential in further research relating to sleep and dreams because it provided a way to objectively study sleep and dreams.
Analysis
One strength of the study is that it encouraged other researchers to explore sleep and dreams, such as Oswald’s restoration theory.
further, this study highlights how most dreaming occurs in REM sleep which links to biological theory of sleep and dreams.
Estimates of dream length were quite high at 88% for 5 mins and 78% for 15 mins. This would suggest that dreams can be tracked.
