Dement & Kleitman Flashcards
Background
Their previous work on REM sleep.
Aim
To test the extent to which dreams occur in both REM and NREM periods. Are dreams specific to REM sleep?
To see if the length of the REM activity was the same as the length of the dream. If REM = dreams then we would expect the duration to be the same.
To examine the pattern of REM sleep to see if it relates to the visual imagery in dreams.
Sample
9 adults. 7 males and 2 females.
5 were studied intensively
Method
Lab experiment
Research questions
Are they more likely to report dreams if they are woken in REM sleep?
Can participants estimate how long they’ve been dreaming? Accurately.
Is their eye movement during REM related to dream content?
All were proven
Procedure
Eat normally during the day besides no caffeine or alcohol (confounding to extraneous variables)
Report to lab at ‘bedtime’
Electrodes attached to eyes and scalp (EEG and eye movement)
Sent to sleep in a darkened room (control)
Woken at different times throughout the night by a doorbell bell (average 5.7 times over 6 hours)
Waking patterns
2 ppts - randomly woken (computer generated)
1 ppt - 3 periods REM & 3 periods NREM
1 ppt - told they’ll be woken in REM but was woken randomly
Results
Total of 351 awakenings
All participants had REM activity every night
REM was linked to fast EEG pattern
REM periods lasted between 3-50 minutes. Eyes had bursts of activity during this - not constant
REM occurred at regular intervals for all. Every REM activity was every 92 minutes
REM & dream recall - 152
NREM & dream recall - 11
Estimate for length of dream
5 mins - 45 (right) 6 (wrong)
15 mins - 47 (right) 13 (wrong)
Conclusions
They concluded they had found a measurable way of recording dreaming through REM activity.
Dream content is related to eye movement
People report more dreams during REM
IV
Being woken in 5 minutes or 15 minutes of REM activity
DV
Eye movement
Dream content
Dream duration
Dreaming or not
