Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream...

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


Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream...

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