Continuum of Dreaming during Transition between Sleep Stages 2 and 3: Testing the Paradigm of Repetitive AwakeningsNoreika, Valdas and Valli, Katja and Lahtela, Hetti and Revonsuo, Antti (2006) Continuum of Dreaming during Transition between Sleep Stages 2 and 3: Testing the Paradigm of Repetitive Awakenings. In: 10th annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, 23-26 Jun 2006, Oxford, UK. Full text available as:
AbstractDissociation between dreaming and dreamless sleep could be applied in the search for the neural correlates of consciousness; however, there are some methodological difficulties in this. The usual method, i.e. comparing dreaming versus dreamless sleep obtained from different stages of sleep, is confounded. Ambiguities remain if the suggested correlate is associated with dreaming as such or simply with a certain stage of sleep. Another more practical but equally limiting problem is inefficient utilisation of laboratory time. Repetitive awakenings performed during single experimental nights and timed to take place during Stage 3 of NREM sleep, might be a useful paradigm to avoid the above difficulties. Awakenings from Stage 3 provide reports of dreamless sleep and dreams in almost equal proportions. In laboratory, at least five reliable reports can be gathered during the first three hours of EEG recording, before the dream recall significantly decreases. Comments/DiscussionMethodological study opens new possibilities to investigate the neural basis of dreaming, which is the most common altered state of consciousness.
Repository Staff Only: edit this item |
