1. Key Study: Dement & Kleitman (1952)
‘The relation of eye movement during sleep to dream activity: an objective method for the study of dreams’
Key Study: Dement & Kleitman (1952)

2. Why do we dream?
Freud: argued that the purpose of dreaming is to unconsciously fulfil wished which would otherwise upset and therefore disturb the sleeper. Dreams are the ‘Royal road to the unconscious’ so they provide the therapist with insight into the clients unconscious thoughts

4. Why do we dream?
Cognitive explanations: a way of dealing with our problems such as those relating to work/ school or our personal life
Physiological explanations: a result of random firing of neurons which create an image which we then put meaning to

5. Sleep and dream states Every 24 hours we sleep
we spend 30% of our lives asleep
sleep is an active NOT a passive behaviour

6. Stages of sleep
We pass through different levels of sleep in a cyclic fashion between 5 and 7 times a night.
Stage 1 and 2 are light sleep characterised by irregular EEG patterns
Stage 3 and 4 are deeper levels and are characterised by regular wave patterns
Stage 4 is slow wave sleep or deep sleep
Then we go back up the staircase to stage 2
Then we enter REM sleep which lasts minutes

7. The Stages of Sleep
The shaded areas are REM sleep

8. The Stages of Sleep

9. What is REM Sleep? Rapid Eye Movement
The eyes dart back and forth very quickly
we are asleep yet our brain is as active as when we are awake
Closely associated with dreaming

11. Sleep deprivation studies:
Human sleep deprivation?
REM sleep seems important:
The Randy Gardner study
volunteers who are gradually deprived of sleep
(sleep reduced from 8 hours to 2 hours)
They pack REM sleep into the time they CAN sleep

12. How Do We Study Sleep? Wire P’s to an electroencephalogram (EEG)
This measures the electrical activity in the brain and amplifies it.
It is non-invasive and should not disturb sleep too much.

13. The Study
Kleitman is recognised as the first researcher to effectively study sleep.
Wanted to find an objective method to study sleep and in particular REM sleep.

14. The Aims
There will be a significant association between periods of REM sleep and dreaming?
There will be a significant positive correlation between the estimate of dream length and time in REM?
There will be a significant association between the pattern of eye movement and the context of the dream

15. Sample 9 participants 7 adult males 2 adult females
5 studied intensively and only small amount of data collected on the other 4.

16. Procedure Studied under controlled laboratory condition
P’s Attend lab at usual bed time. Ate normally but no alcohol or caffeine before sleeping.
They went to bed in a quiet dark room, they were wired to EEG (eyes and scalp).

17. Hypothesis 1: There will be an association between REM and dreaming
They were woken by a bell placed next to the bed
when woken the Ps spoke into a recording device near the bed
FIRST - they said whether they had been dreaming
NEXT they said what they were dreaming about (if they could)
Ps were recorded as dreaming if they could relate a detailed description of the dream

18. Different participants were woken at different times
2 woken at random
1 woken 3 times in REM and 3 times in
N-REM
1 woken at random but told that he was woken in REM
Another woken at the experiments whim

19. Hypothesis 2: there will be a correlation between the duration of dreams and the length of eye movement
Ps woken up 5 mins or 15 mins into a REM period
Ps asked if they had been dreaming for 5 or 15 mins

20. Hypothesis 3: there will be an association between pattern of eye movement and dream content
Ps woken up when one of 4 patterns of eye movement lasted more than a minute
Vertical
Horizontal
Both vertical and horizontal
Very little or no eye movement
Ps asked to describe content of their dream

21. Controls:
No communication between experimenter and sleeper until after they told of their dream content
in case the experimenter ‘suggested the content’ (experimenter effects)
They were NOT told whether they had been woken in REM sleep or in NREM sleep
Woken in BOTH REM and NREM

22. Results: Hypothesis 1: There will be an association between REM and dreaming
REM associated with dreaming and NREM associated with non-dreaming sleep.
Reports of NREM dreaming (usually reported just after REM activity) explained by memory of REM dreams.

23. Results: Hypothesis 2: there will be a correlation between the duration of dreams and the length of eye movement
All Ps were able to choose the correct dream duration fairly accurately (except for one participant who underestimated the length of his dreams)

24. Results: Hypothesis 3: there will be an association between pattern of eye movement and dream content
Relationship between pattern of eye movement and content of dream

25. Vertical eye movement
Standing at bottom of cliff and looking up at climbers and down at hoist machinery
looking up down while climbing a ladder
Throwing basketballs at a net, looking up at net then down to pick up ball

26. Horizontal eye movement Mixture of eye movement
Watching two people throwing tomatoes at
each other
Mixture of eye movement
Ps looking at people close to them (talking to people, looking for something, fighting with someone)
No eye movement
Ps looking staring at an object or watching something in the distance

27. Evaluation of the study
Lack of ecological Validity
Sample size (ethnocentric sample)
Tightly controlled method - reliable

28. Advantages of a Lab Experiment
P - Lab experiments have a high level of control over variables
E –
C - Therefore the lab experiment is more reliable as its easier to replicate and get the same results
P - An advantage of a lab experiment is that it allows us to infer cause and effect (IV causes DV)
C - Therefore is tells us not only that there is a relationship, but the direction of the relationship

29. Disadvantages of a lab experiment
P - Lab experiments lack of ecological validity
E –
C - Therefore the findings cannot be generalized beyond experimental setting
P - Demand characteristics are a disadvantage of lab experiments because participants are aware they are being observed
C - Therefore lab experiments lack validity as they may not truly be measuring what they claim to measure.

30. Does it matter that only 2 Ps were female?
QUESTIONS
Does it matter that only 2 Ps were female?
Why were Ps asked to refrain from alcohol / caffeine?
Why was it important that the Ps did not know whether they were in REM or NREM?
Does the size of the sample matter?
Why might the sleep patterns be different
when the Ps sleep in their own beds?

31. Why might some of the Ps have recalled dreams when they were woken in NREM?
To whom can we generalise the findings?
Was the study ethical?
What was the IV?
What were the three DVs?
Have D & K established that dreaming ONLY occurs in REM sleep?