Dement%20and%20Kleitman%20(1957)%20REM%20and%20dreams

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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.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• introduction
• long standing point of interest
• tradition of dreams as prediction
• tradition of dreams as subconscious mind
• DK gt breakthrough re frequency length of
  dreams
• also relationship of dreams to health

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• the study starting points
• DK 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?

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• the study subjects
• 9 adults 7M 2F
• 5 studied intensively
• 4 minimal data to confirm data on 5

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• 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)

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• 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)

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• the study procedure
• 'dream' only counted if recall clear
• return to sleep lt5 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

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• 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

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• results REMEEG patterns
• REM correlates to EEG patterns
• REM EEG - low voltage fast pattern
• results REMdream reports
• reports of dreams correlates strongly to REM
  sleep
• few dreams reported in non-REM sleep

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• 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

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• 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

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• results eye movement - dream content
• a) vertical eye movement gt operating a hoist
• b) Horizontal gt throwing tomatoes
• c) Both vertical horizontal gt talking to people
  close to them (friends)
• d) Very little or no movement gt staring at fixed
  objects.

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• 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

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• 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

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• 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

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams

• discussion variations in DKs results
• the following tables indicate variations between
  subjects
• they use data on the 5 main subjects
• variations do not fatally undermine DKs study,
  but should serve to show that we need to be
  cautious about generalisations!

psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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DN
KC
PM
WD
IR
psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter
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psychlotron.org.uk Mark Souter