Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream activity: An objective method for the study of dreaming

Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream activity: An objective method for the study of dreaming

Journal of Experimental Psychology 53 pp339 - 46

psychlotron.org.ukMark Souter


introduction • long standing point of interest • tradition of dreams as prediction • tradition of dreams as subconscious mind • D&K => breakthrough re frequency &

length of dreams • also relationship of dreams to health



the study: starting points• D&K noticed rapid eye movement (REM) • apparent connection with dreaming • 3 Qs • 1 does dream recall correlate to REM? • 2 is there a correlation between REM duration

and estimates of dream length • 3 is REM connected to content of dreams?



the study: subjects

• 9 adults: 7M 2F

• 5 studied intensively

• 4 minimal data to confirm data on 5



the study: procedure • S report to lab before bedtime • asked to eat normally BUT avoid caffeine /

alcohol on day of study • 2 electrodes near eye (record muscle

activity) • 2 or 3 others record brain activity • electroencephalograph (EEG)



the study: procedure • woken at various times to test dream recall • bell woke S - they recorded dream recall on tape

[why?]• (to avoid experimenter effects) • waking times:

– 2x random; – 1x at whim of experimenter (!); – 1x 3xREM + 3xnREM; – 1x random (told only during REM)



the study: procedure • 'dream' only counted if recall clear • return to sleep <5 mins • 9 S studied over 61 nights: 351

awakenings (av 5.7 per night) • Subjects awakened as soon as four

predominant pattern of movement had persisted for at least 1 minute



results: REM patterns

• all subjects showed REM every night

• REM had regular pattern

• pattern varied per individual

• av gap 90 mins - norm 70-104 mins

• duration of REM 3 - 50 mins



results: REM–EEG patterns

• REM correlates to EEG patterns

• REM EEG - low voltage fast pattern

results: REM–dream reports

• reports of dreams correlates strongly to REM sleep

• few dreams reported in non-REM sleep


Number of wakenings associated with recall or no recall of dreams after REM and non-REM sleep

152

39

11

149

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

REM dream reacall REM no recall non-REM dream recall non-REM no recall



results: deep sleep - dream reports

• in deep sleep (indicated by EEG) Ss reported confusion

• reported thinking that they had been dreaming …

• but could not describe dreams

• often reported strong emotions



results: dream duration – REM estimates

• woken 5 or 15 mins in REM and asked to estimate duration of dream

• strong correlation between estimates and REM times

• i.e. most subjects could usually estimate times accurately


Results of dream-duration estimates 5 or 15 minutes after onset of REM - Average accuracies

9

1.2

9.4

2.6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

after 5 mins - right after 5 mins - wrong after 15 mins - right after 15 mins - wrong



results: eye movement - dream content • a) vertical eye movement > operating a hoist• b) Horizontal > throwing tomatoes• c) Both vertical & horizontal > talking to people

close to them (friends)• d) Very little or no movement > staring at fixed

objects.



discussion: the study • well controlled lab experiment• small sample • (may be less important because study of

physiological condition rather than psychological)

• breakthrough in dream research• close correlation REM - dreams • nature of relationship remains unclear



discussion: later studies • Goodenough et al • self reported hi/lo dreamers • hi dreamers - many REM-dream links • lo dreamers - much lower REM-dream link rates highly variable



discussion• Dement and Wolpert • tried to influence dreams • sprayed water, flashed lights, played tones • some influence on a few subjects • people blind from birth and newborns show REM



discussion: variations in D&K’s results • the following tables indicate variations

between subjects• they use data on the 5 main subjects • variations do not fatally undermine D&K’s

study, but should serve to show that we need to be cautious about generalisations!


DN

WD

KCPM

IR


Results of dream-duration estimates 5 minutes after onset of REM

0

5

10

15

after 5 mins - wrong 2 1 0 1 2

after 5 mins - right 8 11 7 13 6

DN IR KC WD PM


Results of dream-duration estimates 15 minutes after onset of REM

0

5

10

15

after 15 mins - wrong 5 3 1 1 3

after 15 mins - right 5 7 12 15 8

DN IR KC WD PM


Documents

Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream activity: An objective method for the study of dreaming