Psychology- Sleep and Dreams Flashcards
Describe the Key Points, Strengths and Weaknesses and Treatment of the Cognitive Approach to sleep.
-This approach sees sleep as necessary to REMEMBER, SOLVE A PROBLEM OR FORGET. During sleep the brain cleans up files, strengthens memories and prunes unnecessary memories.
Strength: It gives a clear explanation of why REM is important.
Weakness: It does not explain why dreams have a narrative and seem to make sense.
Treatment:
- Progressive muscle relaxation.
- Stimulus control.
- Sleep restriction therapy.
- Sleep hygiene.
What does “et al” mean?
It means “and others”
Describe the Key Points, Strengths and Weaknesses and Treatment of the Biological Approach to sleep. (midichlorians)
- This refers to the study of living organisms.
- This approach says that dreaming is based solely on brain activity. It claims that dreams are random electrical activity of the brain during sleep.
Strength: The role of the SCN and melatonin is supported by studies of animals.
Weakness: Many disagree that dreams are random as the theory states.
Treatment:
- Drugs- sleeping pills to help people fall and stray asleep or melatonin supplements.
- Intensive light therapy.
DEMENT AND KLEITMAN
Describe the Aims, Methods, Procedures, Sample, Results, and Evaluation.
Aim
•A link between REM sleep and dreams was discovered in 1955, Dement and Kleitman wanted to take this link further and investigate the relationship between REM sleep, eye movements and dreaming.
Methods
A laboratory experiment,
using observations and
interviews.
Sample
•7 males and 2 females
Procedure
Subjects slept individually in a quiet dark laboratory room after a normal day’s activity.
Electrodes were attatched on the participants face to measure brain waves during sleep - these were to measure REM sleep.
Subjects were awoken at various times during the night
They immediately reported in to a recording device whether they had been dreaming and the content of the dream before any contact with the experimenter (to avoid bias).
Results
•There was a very strong association between the patterns of REMs and the content of dream reports. (Basically REM period meant dreaming).
Conclusion
- Longer and more vivid dreaming occurs in REM
- Eye movements match a dream’s content
Evaluation Strengths
•The research provides support for the idea that dreams can be studied in an objective way.
Evaluation Weaknesses
2.The study used a limited sample, mostly men, therefore showed a lack of generalizability
What does “et al” mean?
It means “and others”
Describe Czeisler’s study.
Give the:
Aim Sample Procedure Results Conclusion Evaluation
Aim: To see if showing light at night and darkness during the day can alter when night shift workers felt sleepy.
Sample: 8 Men in their 20’s who have never worked the night shift and have no sleep disorders.
Procedure: The first week consisted of baseline study, however the second week is where the fun begins.
The men lived at home but came to “work” at the laboratory night.
Control group given dim lights, Experimental group given very Bright lights. Experimental group was also asked to remain in complete darkness outside of the experiment. All participants were to complete cognitive tasks hourly, but they also were free to do their own work.
Body temperature was measured, as this alters depending on our body’s perceived time of day.
Results: Body temperature greatly shifted- pacemaker was adapting.
Experimental group was far more alert and performed better in the cognitive tests than the control group by the end of the experiment.
Conclusion: People have the ability to alter their endogenous pacemaker for shift work. All that is required is to live in darkness during the day, and bright light during the night.
Strength: This study had high control, as it is a lab experiment.
Weakness: Only 7 men involved, hard to generalise.
Weakness 2: Lacks ecological validity.
