Dement and Kleitman (1957)

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Title of the study?
'The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream activity: An objective method for the study of dreaming.
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Context of the study?
Sleep and REM sleep
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Is sleep an active state? If so why?
Yes (both physically and mentally) because our bodies move frequently and our brain activity is even more varied than normal walking state.
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What does REM stand for?
Rapid eye movement
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How many stages of sleep are there?
5 stages of sleep
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How to identify stages of sleep?
Basis of eye movement and lack of muscle tone.
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What is REM sleep also known as?
'Paradoxical sleep'
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Brain wave during REM sleep?
Brain wave is unique and people are likely to be dreaming.
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What does NREM stand for?
Non-rapid eye movement
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Aim of the study?
To conduct a rigorous assessment of the relationship between REM sleep and dreams.
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2 certain questions to determine this relationship?
Do dreams occur just in REM sleep or also during NREM sleep? Does the pattern of eye movements during REM relate to the visual experience of the dream?
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Another question relating to correlations to determine this relationship?
Is there a positive correlation between the length of a REM episode and how long a person thought they were dreaming for?
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Sample in the study?
9 American adults: 7 males and 2 females
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Sampling methodology used?
Opportunity sample
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Were an participants studies intensively? If so, how many?
5 participants were studies intensively and referred to by their initials.
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2 strengths of the sample?
A range of different individuals were studied rather than just one case study and Opportunity means it was quick and easy to recruit.
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2 weaknesses of the sample?
Small sample size and ALL American (can't generalise) and Opportunity means it may not be representative.
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Research method of the study?
A controlled observation in a laboratory.
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Another possible research method?
Quasi-experiment
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Snapshot or Longitudinal?
Snapshot
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Independent variables in the study?
REM or NREM sleep
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Dependent variables in the study?
Number of times dreams reported
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Hypthesis for the study?
More dreams are reported in REM sleep than NREM sleep.
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Parts of the study were a correlation, Hypothesis for this?
There is a positive correlation between the estimate of time spent dreaming and the duration of REM sleep.
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2 strengths of the research method? (Controlled Observation)
Extraneous variables can be excluded and Controlled environment allows focus on particular aspects of behaviour.
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2 weaknesses of the research method? (Controlled Observation)
Laboratory so people may have different sleep patterns to normal and Laboratory so potential for Demand Characteristics.
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2 strengths of the research method? (Quasi-experiment)
Enables psychologists to study real conditions and enables research where an IV can't be manipulated for ethical or practical reasons.
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2 weaknesses of the research method? (Quasi-experiment)
Can't establish cause and effect (IV isn't manipulated) and Potential for Demand characteristics
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How was observation used in this study?
Participants were observed in a sleep laboratory while they slept.
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What were they told to do on the day of the study?
Eat normally BUT avoid caffeine and alcohol on the day of the study.
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How were eye movements recorded?
By attaching electrodes to the eyes and recording movements with EOG (electro-oculograph)
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How were brain waves recorded?
By attaching electrodes to the scalp and recorded using an EEG (electroencephalograph)
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What happened during the study?
P's went to bed in a quiet, dark room and they were awoken by a bell at various intervals (either REM or NREM) and when they were awoken they were asked to speak into a recording machine.
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Why did they speak into a recording machine?
To prevent any queing from the researcher.
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What were they asked to report?
Whether they had been dreaming and if so: The content of the dream and whether they were dreaming for 5 or 15 minutes.
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What happened when they had finished speaking?
The researcher occasionally entered to further question them on some point and then they were allowed to go back to sleep.
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When else were they woken?
During episodes of vertical or horizontal eye movement and asked to describe their dream.
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Of the 5 P's studies intensively how many: woken using table of random numbers, woken during 3REM+3NREM periods, told would be woken ONLY during REM but actually woken during REM+NREM, woken at whim of researcher?
2, 1, 1, 1
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True/False: No P's were told whether they had been having REM activity when they were woken?
True
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What did the occurrence of REM activity show?
Average - REM lasted 20 mins and occurred every 92 mins, Frequency was characteristic for everyone, Episodes tended to be longer later in night.
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Findings of REM vs NREM activity?
P's 65-90% of time reported having a dream when woken in REM but only 3-12.5% of time reported dream when woken in NREM
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When were most of the recalls in NREM periods?
Within 8 mins of end of REM episode
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Findings of length of REM periods and dream duration estimates?
P's were 83% correct when estimating time dreaming (5/15 mins), 92 correct estimates and 19 incorrect (length of REM), Positive correlation between duration of REM activity and number of words used to describe a pattern.
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What did the eye movement and visual imagery of the dream show?
Strong correlation between pattern of REM's and content of dreams e.g. horizontal eye movements linked to a dream about throwing tomatoes.
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Conclusions of the study? (3 conclusions)
Dreaming directly accompanied by REM activity BUT cannot be stated that dreaming doesn't occur at other times, An objective measurement of dreaming can be accomplished by recording REM's during sleep.
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Piece of past research?
Ramsey (1953) - most dreams were recalled during later hours of sleep.
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Card 2

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Sleep and REM sleep

Card 3

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Is sleep an active state? If so why?

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Card 4

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What does REM stand for?

Back

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Card 5

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How many stages of sleep are there?

Back

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