DEMENT AND KLEITMAN
Aim- If you watch someone sleeping, you will sometimes see their eyelids fluttering, which is known as Rapid Eye Movement (REM).
The aim of the study was to test whether REM could tell us if someone was dreaming and what they were dreaming about.
Participants: 7 adult males, and 2 adult females.
5 were studied intensively. The other 4 were tested on one or two nights.
They had to abstain from alcohol and caffeine.
Method:
a) Physiological: There were 2 physiological measurements made
- EEG recording of the brainactivity
- Electrical activity around the yes was recorded so as to detect eye movements.
b.) Self- reports
Participants were asked by an internal phone.
These self report questions and EEG reading allowed D&K to correlate:
- REM and dreaming
-Length of REM and estimate of length of dream
- Dream of REM with content of the dream.
Results:
- 80% of participant recalled their dream when awoken in REM, however, 20% did not.
- 88.2% of participants estimated correctly thatthey were dreaming for 5 mins, however 11.8% estimated incorrectly.
- 78.3% estimated correctly that they were dreaming for 15 mins, however, 21.7% estimated incorrectly.
-REM occurred once every 92 mins.
-REM - low voltage, fast EEG
-NREM- High voltage, slow EEG
- REM ranged from 3- 50 mins. avg, of 20 mins.
Eye movements:
-Mainly vertical
-Mainly horizontal
-Both vertical and horizontal
-Very little of no movement.