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 pp psychlotron.org.ukMark Souter

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

Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams 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? psychlotron.org.ukMark Souter

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.ukMark Souter

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.ukMark Souter

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.ukMark Souter

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

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 mins duration of REM mins psychlotron.org.ukMark Souter

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

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.ukMark Souter

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.ukMark Souter

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

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.ukMark Souter

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.ukMark Souter

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.ukMark Souter

Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM and dreams 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! psychlotron.org.ukMark Souter

DN WD KCPM IR psychlotron.org.ukMark Souter