Core study 2-

Biological
approach
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
Dement and Kleitman (1957) REM
and dreams Aim…

 Interested in understanding whether

1. Whether Dream recall is affected during

REM (Rapid Eye movement) sleep stage
and the nREM sleep stage.

2. Is there a relationship between a dream

time and the time of REM state of sleep.

3. Are eye movements related to dream

details.
Background.
 Dream is difficult to study, a description of a
dream is not enough, so checking the
physiological measures of the brain is
important.

 Aserinsky and Kleitman (1955): first to use

the physiological measures to study sleep and
dreaming.

 They used EEG (electroencephalogram) –

showed that there are different stages of sleep
REM to nREM.

 REM sleep had more vivid, and visual recall

of dream than in other stages
Stages of sleep
Brain measuring Technique
Electroencephalograph (EEG)

 Used to study brain activity

in the brain during various
stages of sleep. Changes,
show changes in the sleep
stage.
 The chart produced is
known as encephalogram.
 It shows the frequency and
amplitude of electrical
activity.
 Also checks the activity in
the muscles moving the
eyes – ElectroOculoGram
(EOG)
Brain Waves – Just FYI
Four types of brain waves: Beta waves, which represent the fastest
1. Theta cycles at 13 to 40 per second, are usually
only seen in very stressful situations or
2. Delta
situations that require very strong mental
3. alpha and concentration and focus.
4. beta.
These four brain waves make up the
Each type of brain wave represents a different electroencephalogram (EEG).
speed of oscillating electrical voltages in the
brain.

Theta (four to seven cycles per second) is

present in stage one when we're in light sleep

Delta is the slowest (zero to four cycles per

second) and is present in deep sleep.

Alpha waves, operating at eight to 13 cycles

per second, occur during REM sleep (as well as
when we are awake)
 Just to clarify…..Sleep Stages
A typical night ~ pass through different levels of sleep in a repeated fashion between 5
and 7 times.

• Level 1 and 2 are light sleep characterised by irregular EEG patterns

• Level 3 and 4 are deeper levels and are characterised by regular wave patterns.
• Stage 4 is called slow wave sleep or deep sleep.
• After stage 4 there is a period of REM sleep lasting for about 15 to 20
minutes and the sleeper goes back up the ‘sleep staircase’ to stage 2

• Sleep states alternate during the night starting with a rapid descent into deep sleep,
followed by progressively increased episodes of lighter sleep and REM sleep.
Lets do a basic check

 What were the three aims of the Dement and Klietman interested in
studying?
 Who were the first researchers to measure Sleep and dreaming?
 What is an electroencephalogram (EEG)?
 What does an EEG measure?
 How many stages does the sleep go through?
Lets do a basic check
 What were the three aims of the Dement and
Klietman interested in studying?
 What is the difference between REM and nREM
sleep?
 What does an EEG measure?
 Lets do a basic check answers.
 What were the three aims of the Dement and Klietman interested in studying?
 Does dream recall vary in REM and nREM sleep
 Is there a correlation between length of REM sleep and estimates of dream
duration.-
 eye movement patterns connected to content of dreams
 What is the difference between REM and nREM sleep?
 REM is characterized by rapid eyemovement increase in heart beat and vivid
dreams. NREM sleep is characterized by deep sleep, and slow brain waves, with
little dream.
 What does an EEG measure?
 Frequency and amplitude of brain waves
Research Questions:
Dement & Kleitman
(1957)
 Does dream recall vary in
REM and nREM sleep?
 Is there a correlation between
length of REM sleep and
estimates of dream duration.
 Is REM – eye movement
patterns connected to content
of dreams?
 Method - Design
 3 Different research methods were used to study the
three questions.
 Q 1 - Does dream recall vary in REM and nREM sleep? –
EXPERIMENT – sleep Lab.
 IV – type of sleep the participant was woken up in
REM or nREM.
 DV – Recall of dream or not.
 Repeated Measures design

 Q2 - Is there a correlation between length of REM sleep

and estimates of dream duration.- CORRELATION
+REPEATED MEASURE DESIGN
 Q3 - Is REM – eye movement patterns connected to
content of dreams? – SELF – REPORTS & OBSERVATION
METHOD – RESEARCH METHOD
& SAMPLE

SAMPLE:
 9 adults: 7Males 2Females
 5 studied intensively
 4 other participants were used to confirm
data on main 5 participants.

LOCATION & MATERIALS

 Sleep lab
 EEG machine to measure brain activity
Recap

 What was the aims of study.

 What were research methods used for the three aims of the
study?
 What is REM and nREM sleep?
 Why did they use EEG ?
 How does this study support tha ssumptions at the
biological approach?
Procedure: General
 Participants reported to lab before bedtime
 They were asked to eat normally BUT avoid
caffeine / alcohol on day of study – (Why?)
 Dark quiet room – (Why?) with electrodes 2
electrodes near eye (record muscle activity) 2
or 3 others record brain activity
 Wires were gathered into a pony tail in a
single cord from participants head , to move
easily in bed. – (Why?)
Procedure 1
Aim- Does dream recall vary in
REM and nREM sleep?

 Woken by a loud doorbell at various times to test

dream recall (Why)?
 Bell woke P - they recorded dream recall on tape
[why?]
 Sometimes the experiment would ask questions about the
dream.

 P Not told about their EEG pattern or whether eyes

were moving? (why?)
 Procedure 1- Aim- Does dream recall
vary in REM and nREM sleep?

 Participants were woken at different times REM nREM

but not told which waking times (Why?)

 2 Pp x random number table; (participant PM and KC)

 1 Pp x at whim of experimenter (!); (participant IR)

 1 Pp x 3xREM + 3 x nREM; (participant DN)

 1 Pp x random (told only during REM- but in both)

(participant WD)
Important questions for
procedure 1
 Why were participants woken up in different formats?

 How does the procedure help in studying the aim?

 State the use of variations in waking participants in the study?

 How were PM and KC woken up form the sleep?

 How was IR & DN & WD woken up from the sleep?

 Why was it important to hide the stage of sleep participants were woken
up from?
Important questions for
procedure 1
 Why were participants woken up in different formats?

 How does the procedure help in studying the aim?

 State the variations of waking participants were there in the study?

 How were PM and KC Woken up form the sleep?

 How was IR & DN & WD woken up from the sleep?

 Why was it important to hide the stage of sleep participants were woken
up?
Procedure 2: Is there a correlation between length of
REM sleep and estimates of dream duration.

 Woken either 5/ 15 mins after entering REM

 Asked to estimate duration of dream- 5/15

mins (why)?

 Relate dream content and Number of words

in the dream were counted. – Why?
 Procedure 3 - AIM - Is REM – eye movement
patterns connected to content of dreams?

 Eye movements detected using EEG electrodes

 Participants awakened as soon as four predominant

pattern of movement had persisted for at least 1 minute –
(Why)?

 Eye patters – Mainly vertical, mainly horizontal, both

vertical and horizontal, little or no movement.

 Eye movements EEG patterns were compared between

three groups – awake participants, 20 naïve participants
and 5 experimental participants
 Good things about procedure.

 Controlled environment
 'dream' only counted if recall clear of content.
 Loud door bell.
 Questions asked only after participant
finished recording.

 return to sleep <5 mins

9 Participants. studied over 61 nights:
351 awakenings (av 5.7 per night)
Results

 Dream stages lasted 3-50minutes – mean 20 min.

 Longer in the night

 Showed in between burst of Rapid eye movement around 2-100.

 All subjects showed REM every night. REM had regular pattern, but pattern
varied per individual

 average gap 90 mins - norm 70-104 mins

 No REM when falling asleep, even though brain waves were like those in REM
sleep.
Results

 When participants were woken from sleep they went back to sleep at the nREM
stage.
but when woken from REM sleep - no dream until next REM phase.-
Pattern of REM and nREM was similar in experimental participants whose sleep
was disturbed, then uninterrupted sleep participants.
Questions
 State two results of the Dement and Kleitman study
 State two things that were controlled in the Dement and Kleitman study.
 Describe the procedure of aim two in the dement and kleitman study.
 State the eye pattern movements observed in the Dement and Kleitman
study.
Results for AIM1: deep sleep - dream reports

1. Dream recall in REM sleep was 79.6% (152/191)

2. 93% of awakening in nREM DID NOT produce any

dreams recall (149/160)

3. Reports of dreams correlates strongly to REM sleep.

4. Dreams correlate to EEG patterns – no dream recall in

Spindles pattern.

5. Time was important after REM stage for dream recall-

 when woken up within 8min after REM – there was

dream recall (29%) data) but when woken up after 8
min only 5% of dreams recalled.
 Number of wakenings associated with recall or no recall of
dreams after REM and non-REM sleep
160 152 149
140

120

100

80

60

39
40

20 11

0
RE M dr eam r eacal l RE M n o r ecal l no n- RE M d r eam r ecal l no n- RE M n o r ecal l

Task!! Transfer this bar chart data into a table

Results for AIM1: deep sleep - dream reports

This is related to the pattern of waking up that participants were exposed

to in the procedure section
Results for AIM1: deep sleep - dream reports

 The number of times people were woken up in REM sleep and did
not report any dreams was 39.(refer to the table in the Textbook.
 When they did not dream in REM it was because 19 dream were in
the 1st 2 hours, 11 in 2nd 2 hours, 5 in the 3rd 2 hours and 4 in the last
2 hours.
 State the results Dement and Klietman found for Aim 1.
 How are the results related to the aim of the study?
 What was the Dream recall for REM and nREM stage of sleep?
 Results: 2. REM: Dream duration

 Woken 5 or 15 mins in REM and asked to

estimate duration of dream – this
correlated highly by P’s estimates. 88%(5
min) 78% (15min.
 All subjects could estimate time except
DN- he misjudged 15 min to be 5 min, and
recalled only the latter part of the dream.
 No. of words were the measurement of
duration of dream time, and were
positively correlated (r=.40- 0.71, total
dreams per P, 129.
 Dream narrative did not change much even
if REM was longer than 15 min, upto 30-
50 min.
Results: 2. REM: Dream
duration
51 tests 60 test
Woken after 5 Woken after 15
minuets of REM minuets of REM
Correct Incorrec Correct Incorrec
t t
45 6 47 13

Task!! Transfer this table data into a bar chart

Questions

 What was the correlation between 5 and 15 min of estimates

between the actual duration and P estimated duration?
 What does this correlation explain?
 How was correlation useful to study this aim?
Results – Aim3 - Is REM – eye
movement patterns connected to
content of dreams?
 35 awakenings across 9 Ps.
 Ps woken immediately in 1 min after patter was seen.
Results – Aim3 - Is REM – eye
movement patterns connected to
content of dreams?
 a) vertical eye movement > operating a hoist,
climbing stairs, throwing basket balls.
 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. Driving a car, looking at a man standing on
the left.
 Results similar to control Ps.
Results – Aim3 - Is REM – eye
movement patterns connected to
content of dreams?
Vertical Eye movements dream content – 3 instances only.
 P1 - standing at the bottom of a tall cliff operating some sort of hoist
and looking up at climbers at various levels and down at the hoist
machinery.
 P2 - Another S dreamed of climbing up a series of ladders looking up
and down as he climbed.
 P3 - In the third instance the dreamer was throwing basketballs at a net,
first shooting and looking up at the net, and then looking down to pick
another ball off the floor.
Results – Aim3 - Is REM – eye
movement patterns connected to
content of dreams?
Horizontal Eye movements dream content – 1 instance only.
 P1 – P was watching two people throwing tomatoes at each other.

Little or no eye movement – 10 dreams

 P reported looking at someone in the distance, or staring at something.

2 dreams had eye movements looking at the left before the opening.
 In one case S was driving a car and staring at the road ahead. He approached an
intersection and was startled by the sudden appearance of a car speeding at him from the
left.
 In the other, the dreamer was also driving a car and staring at the road ahead. Just before
the awakening he saw a man standing on the left side of the road and hailed him as he
drove past.
 State one dream recalled in the vertical eye movement
 State one dream in the horizontal eye movement.
 State one dream in the little or no eye movement.
Conclusion

 Dream high in REM than nREM sleep.

 P can judge the length of dreams.
 nREM dream recall was because of a previous REM stage
dream.
 Eye measurement and brain waves show that dream
progresses in real time.
Recap.
 What were the aims of the study?
 What were the main results of the three aims?
 Describe
one dream in the vertical eye
movement pattern.
Discussion
 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
Task…
 Changes and implications to the study??
 Complete workbooks