REM Mentation in Narcoleptics and Normals: An Empirical Test of Two Neurocognitive Theories

Dreams in Patients with Sleep Disorders

“…However, correlations between sleep fragmentation (stage shifts, movements before awakening) and dream length or other dream characteristics were not found. 83 In the patient group, sleep-onset REM dreams elicited during the day are more vivid and more intense (fear/anxiety and joy/ elation) than their nighttime dreams. 84 Patients with narcolepsy show higher scores on a scale measuring reflective consciousness; that is, they are aware more often that they are dreaming (in both sleep-onset REM dreams and nighttime dreams) than are healthy controls.…”

“…84 Patients with narcolepsy show higher scores on a scale measuring reflective consciousness; that is, they are aware more often that they are dreaming (in both sleep-onset REM dreams and nighttime dreams) than are healthy controls. 83 Despite the extensive methodology of the latter study, some questions were not answered, including effects of age on dream content (the sample included subjects from 17 to 70 years), effects of coping with the disorder (the sample consisted mainly of well-adjusted members of the Norwegian Narcolepsy Association) and whether dream content differs in drug-naïve patients (most patients had discontinued their treatment).…”

“…Larger samples are needed to replicate the findings of these pilot studies. 82,83,85 Because simple methods for coping with bad dreams and nightmares are available (e.g., imagery rehearsal therapy), 86,86a it might be beneficial to speak with narcoleptic patients about their dream experiences in the course of diagnosis and treatment. The use of lucid dreaming as a treatment for nightmares 87 might be especially well suited for these patients in light of their frequent awareness within the dream that they are dreaming.…”

Do Sleep Disorders Affect the Dreaming Process? Dream Recall and Dream Content in Patients with Sleep Disorders

“…Alternatively, Mayer and colleagues, 75 analyzing the hospital records of 106 narcolepsy patients, found a prevalence rate of nightmares of 41.5% compared with about 5% in the general population. Vogel 73,74 and Fosse 66 reported that narcoleptic patients were more often aware of their state of consciousness during dreaming (ie, they knew that the dream experience was not real).…”

Bizarreness and Emotion Identification in Grete Stern Photomontages: Gender and Age Disparities

“…In a study of dream contents judged for bizarreness, Revonsuo and Salmivalli (1995) found that dream emotions had a lower rate of incongruity (11.8%) than animate objects (15.1%), persons (15.2%), objects (16.1%), events (23.2%), language (31%), and cognition (34.7%). Compared to similar waking episodes, “bizarre” experiences occurring during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phases emerge in an involuntary manner, and occur more frequently, in contrast with Non REM dream mentation (Fosse, 2000; Fosse et al, 2001; Corsi-Cabrera et al, 2003). Moreover, scenes and items are not usually perceived as bizarre or non-sensical during the original dream experience, but judged as such during their wakeful recollection and narration (Díaz, 2015).…”