Dement & Kleitman

Aim: Are dreams recalled more often during REm sleep than during non-REM sleep? Would estimates of dream length correlate with length of REM? Is there a relationship between the contect of the dream and the direction of eye movements?

Participants:

• 7 males and 2 females
• 5 studied intensively

Method:

• Lab experiment
• participants went to lab before normal bedtime
• asked to avoid alcohol and caffeie
• electrodes attached near eyes on scalp attached to EEG machine to measure electrical activity
• woken by a bell and spoke into a tape recorder
• asked questions about dream content and length

Results:

There was a relationship between eye movement and content of dream e.g vertical eye movements in a dream where the person was throwing basketballs

Participants reported having more dreams in REM sleep compared to Non-REM sleep

Strengths: Lab experiment high control over extraneous variables high internal validity

Weaknesses: lacked ecological validity, unsual environment and electrodes attached to their head is not representative of real live.

Small sample size