Forty Studies That Changed Psychology. By Roger Hock (2005). Pearson / Prentice Hall.: p.41-63
(To Sleep, No Doubt To Dream…:Two articles on Sleep
studies)
I: 1952 Eugine
Aserinsky
a. Observed sleeping patterns in infantsà periodic occurrences of active eye movements and occasional slow eye movements.
b. Active
eye movements may be associated with dreaming. Decided to do dream research on
adults because you can ask them questions oppose to infants.
1. Sensitive electronic measuring the muscles around the eyes.
2. After
active eye movement, there was a period of no eye movement (asked subjects if
they dreamt or not)
3. 27
awakenings reported detailed visual dreams: during periods of sleep with rapid
eye movement
4. 23
awakenings with no eye movement: 19 did not report any dreaming, 4 felt vaguely
some dream.
c. What does this mean? The interpretations of results.
1. Lead
to REM: rapid eye movement, sleep or dreaming sleep.
2. You
sleep in 4 stages: (stage 1) lightest sleep, (stage 2-3) deeper stages of sleep,
(stage 4) deepest stage of sleep, the move back up through the stages
3. As
you approach stage 1 again, you encounter REM (where you dream) Participants
show no movement during this period.
“You body is immobilized by electrochemical messages from your brain
that actually paralyze your muscles.” (pg. 42)
4. NREM:
non-rapid-eye-movement, after REM back into the 4 stages of sleep going back
and forth from NREM and REM about 5 to 6 times.
5. Everyone
dreams is necessary to our living.
II. Studies done from
Dement
a. Studied subjects that have been deprived of dreaming
b. Males ranging from ages 23-32
c. 1. Baseline: first several nights were allowed to sleep normally
2. Sleep deprivation: awaken the subject every time electrodes indicated they were dreaming.
a. Subjects had to demonstrate they were awake by staying awake for a few minutes (sitting up)
b. Subjects could not sleep during the day
3. Recovery phase: recorded the dreams à then went home and was not
recorded during their sleep
4. Came
back to the lab- dream deprivation but different from before in that the
subject was awaken in between eye-movement (dream). Only awakened when the dream
ended.
5. Control recovery: to see if there was
any effects of dream deprivation due to being awakened many times during the
night.
d. Results: undisturbed sleep during baseline sleep was
average of 6 hours and 50 minutes
a. Increased dreaming when the subjects were prevented to
dream.
b. No significant increase in dreaming when awakened after
dreaming.
III. Discussion/Findings from
Dement:
1.
Conclusion to this study that Dement came up with was that we need to dream.
2. When
we are not allowed to dream, there is a increase of our bodies desire to dream.
3. All
subjects developed anxiety, irritability, or difficulty concentrating when
their REM was interrupted (dreaming).
4.
Accidental findings
a. One way that people are deprived from REM sleep is when
taking high dosage of alcohol, or drugs (amphetamines, barbiturates)
b. This is one reason why some are unable to stop drinking or
drugs due to REM-rebound effect is strong and disturbing. They have a hard time sleeping or continue
their bad habits. This is also known as
DT or delirium tremens.
c. Greater synthesis of proteins in the brain during REM.
Helpful links:
http://www.sleepquest.com/d_column_archive9.html
: This link is very useful for those who are interested in current and more
information on sleep deprivation and its function.
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/history.html
: This website is from Stanford University and is a brief outline of sleep
deprivation research and the important contributions that scientists found.
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/self-witnessing-theistic.htm
: This section talks about self-witnessing however, it also mentions a little
about sleeping and its view through the eyes of Theistic Psychology.
Class Home page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm
My Home page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2006/jones/jones-class-homepage.htm