Introduction
what type of experiment was this?
which experimental design was used?
Laboratory experiment
Repeated measures design
what were participants not allowed to have?
caffeine and alcohol
The dream duration and the number of words used to describe the dream narrative were significantly negatively correlated.
true or false?
False. they were positively correlated
how is conducting the experiment in a lab beneficial?
it is highly controlled. It can help in controlling extraneous variables which makes the study more valid and reliable.
name all the issues and debates involved in this study
- Application of psychology to everyday life
- Nature vs nurture
- use of animals
state any 2 aims
Does dream recall differ between eye movement (REM) and quiescent (NREM) stages of sleep?
Is there a positive correlation between subjective estimates of dream duration and the length of the REM period before waking?
Are eye movement patterns related to dream content?
what were the time choices given in the second aim?
5 or 15 minutes
Uninterrupted dream stages were typically longer later in the night.
true or false?
True
what were the ethical issues involved?
Few participants were deceived about the stage of sleep they were being woken in. since they were deceived, they could not give their informed consent either. But it was important to do so to be able to achieve the aims
explain the individual and situations debate
there was no individual or situational debate in this study.
- everyone experienced REM and dreaming during REM, which lessens the individual explanation
- Unusual sleep environment could have affected the way participants sleep
one difference between REM and nREM
REM is the stage of sleep in which our eye moves rapidly, and they are associated with visual or vivid dreams.
nREM is when our eyes are still and it is not associated with dreaming.
state any 2 eye pattern movements recorded in the 3rd aim
mainly vertical, mainly horizontal, both vertical and horizontal or little to no movement
what was the dream content when the participants had mixed eye movements
participants were looking at close object or persons
comment on the generalizability
It was generalizable as both the genres were used. But there was a small sample, so it limits generalizability.
how can this be applied to everyday life?
The EEG can accurately detect dreaming,so can be useful for people with sleep and dream disorder
explain the sample
7 males 2 females. Only 5 of them were studied in detail, and the other 4 were used to confirm the results of the first 5.
how did Dement and Klietman decide how to wake participants up- either in REM or nREM?
Using a random number table
In groups of 3. Like first 3 in REM and the next 3 in nREM
They told the participants that they would only be woken in REM, but then they randomly chose when to wake them up.
No specific order
what were the results for the first question?
Does dream recall differ between eye movement i.e. REM, and quiescent i.e. nREM stages of sleep?
Participants frequently described their dreams when woken from REM and when woken from nREM, they barely did.
79.6% from REM produced dream recall and 93% from nREM did not recall the dream.
In the nREM awakenings, participants were able to describe their feelings but not exactly the dream content.
Even if the participants figured the pattern of awakenings, they did not become accurate.
In the REM awakening, it didn't always produce a dream recall. In fact, the absence of dreaming was more common early in the night.
did the study have high validity? how?
- they did not count any vague impression as a dream so the results were accurate.
- as it was a lab experiment, it was highly controlled.
How could nature vs nurture be applied here?
Dream content relates to our experience, so is a product of nurture
the capacity to dream is a product of nature.
state the IV and DV for any aim
For the first aim- The IV was whether participants were woken up in REM or NREM and the DV was how well they recalled their dream.
For the second aim- the IV was whether participants were woken up after 15 or 5 mins in REM sleep. The DV was whether their subjective guess of the estimated duration of their sleep
how is this experiment highly controlled?
participants were woken up by a doorbell which was loud enough to rouse them immediately from any sleep stage. Another control was that the experimenter did not ask any questions until the participant was done with their recording
Also reports were not counted as dreams if they could just remember they had a dream but not remember what the content was. It was not counted if they had a vague impression of the dream.
state all three conclusions
Dreaming is reported in REM but not in nREM.
Participants can judge their dream duration – dreams progress in ‘real-time’.
Eye movement patterns relate to dream content.
was the study ecologically valid? how?
as people who were used to drinking caffeine or alcohol might not have their typical dreams. Also, their sleeping behaviors might change when they sleep in a lab and not in their own beds.
Animals like mammals do not demonstrate REM sleep
true or false?
False. all animals demonstrate REM sleep.