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Dreams are fragile, so if you want to remember them you will need to be able to record them with a
minimum of effort. If remembering your dreams is important to you, try the following tips:
1. Keep writing material or a tape recorder next to your bed, and be sure that you can turn on
a light to write by without getting out of bed.
2. Before going to bed, tell yourself that you are going to wake up after a dream. If you are
unable to obey your command, try setting a gentle alarm for two hours after retirement and
every two hours thereafter.
3. When you wake up, keep your eyes closed, and review the dream before you record it.
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4. Make a questionnaire or checklist to remind you of the information you want to record.
This might include such things as the setting, actors, activities, outcomes, and, perhaps
most important, the emotional tone of the dream.
THE PARADOXICAL NATURE OF REM
REM sleep has been referred to as paradoxical sleep, meaning that during REM sleep, the activity of
the brain closely approximates that of waking state activity. We know that we dream during REM,
and that we have rapid eye movements for which this state is named, but what other things are
happening that make this state “approximately” that of the waking state? Several manifestations of
this sleep state insofar as we are able to determine, are unique to REM. These things apparently
happen during REM and at no other time during the sleep cycle. What are they?
ATONIA
During REM sleep, we experience atonia—we lose muscle tone, our muscles become flaccid, and we
are virtually paralyzed. This manifestation disappears within a fraction of a second following
waking, but can be a bit scary if we try to get out of bed immediately on waking, only to find that we
cannot do so, at least instantaneously. The reason for atonia is that neural messages from the brain
stem going to the major muscle groups are inhibited during REM. These messages originate in the
pons, a structure that sits just at the top of the brain stem, and the inhibition of these neural
impulses has probably kept many of us from injuring ourselves if we were to wander around in a
not quite conscious state.
SEXUAL AROUSAL
Both males and females experience sexual arousal—evinced by tumescence in males and
lubrication and engorgement of genital tissues in females—during REM sleep.
OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES
Increases in both blood pressure and heart rate occur during REM. These functions increase from
the low levels seen during Stage 4 sleep to levels that closely approximate those of a waking state of
consciousness.
MEMORY PROCESSES
Thought and memory organization also occur during REM, as housekeeping type of functions.
Most of us have awakened to discover that a problem that was vexing us the night before suddenly
seems to have “solved itself” over the course of the night, and we wonder why we did not see the
solution yesterday. Perhaps this aspect of REM explains why our mothers told us not to worry
because “everything will be better in the morning.”
INCORPORATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULUS
Environmental sounds are frequently incorporated into dreams. The sound of a car backfiring in
the street outside may be incorporated into one’s dreams as a gunshot, or a slamming of a door,
while the thunderclap in a thunderstorm may be incorporated into the dreams of combat veterans
as incoming artillery fire. As you can see, far from being a truly “sleeping” state, REM sleep is very
susceptible to impact by the outside environment.
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TIMELINE
Year Event
1637 Rene Descartes published Discourse on Method.
1815 Napoleon was defeated at the battle of Waterloo and banished to St. Helena.
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The American Civil War was fought.
1881 Pasteur and Koch discovered the germ theory of disease.
1902 William James published The Varieties of Religious Experience.
1917 The Bolshevik Revolution was fought in Russia.
1932 Carl Jung published Modern Man in Search of a Soul.
1938 d-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide-25 (LSD) was discovered by Dr. Albert Hoffman.
1948 Israel became an independent nation.
1953 The genetic code was broken.
1954 Aldous Huxley published The Doors of Perception.
1985 Stephen LaBerge published Lucid Dreaming.
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SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READINGS
Baars, B., & Wright I. (1997). In the Theater of Consciousness: The Workspace of the Mind. New York:
Oxford University Press. Reviews research on consciousness and introduces the global
workspace theory, in which consciousness occupies a workspace much like the stage in a
theater.
Donald, M. (1991). Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. A fascinating perspective on modern man,
/> incorporating data from the field of cultural anthropology, linguistics, comparative anatomy,
comparative neuroanatomy, and cognition to offer an explanation of how we got “here” from
“there.”
Gazzaniga, M. S. (1988). Mind Matters: How Mind and Brain Interact to Create Our Conscious Lives.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Discusses mental disorders, psychopathology, and the role of
neuropsychology in these issues.
Gazzaniga, M. S. (1992). Nature’s Mind: The Biological Roots of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality,
Language, and Intelligence. New York: Basic Books. Shows how natural selection influences
everything from depression, to language development, to substance abuse. Presents the nature
versus nurture controversy in a new light. An excellent book by an eminent scientist.
Goleman, D., Wilber, K., Tart, C., & Walsh, R. (1993). The Riddle of Consciousness. Los Angeles:
Perigee Books. Provides four different views on consciousness by four leading thinkers in the
field.
Herzog, P. S. (1991). Conscious and Unconscious: Freud’s Dynamic Distinction Reconsidered. Madison,
CT: International Universities Press. A new perspective on consciousness and unconsciousness,
from the psychoanalytic position.
Horowitz, M. J. (ed.). (1988). Psychodynamics and Cognition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Based on papers presented at a workshop held at the Center for Advanced Study in the
Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, and sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation.
Huxley, A. (1954). The Doors of Perception. New York: Harper. A classic text on the experience of
psychedelic drugs. The rock band “The Doors” was named after this book.
LaBerge, S. (1985). Lucid Dreaming. New York: St. Martin’s Press. The seminal work on lucid
dreaming. Introduces the phenomenon of lucid dreaming and presents the original research on
the topic. A classic in the field.
Palfai, T. (1997). Drugs and Human Behavior. (2nd ed.). Dubuque: Brown & Benchmark Publishers.
An interesting introduction to drugs and their influence on human behavior. Reviews the
history of drug use, surveys recent research, and describes the effects of drugs on normal and
abnormal functioning.
Penfield, W. (1992). The Mind and the Brain. Boston: Birkhaeuser. Describes the conclusions derived
by a leading researcher on neuropsychology from observations of thousands of patients. An
interesting book written by one of the founders of the discipline.
Penrose, R. (1994). Shadows of the Mind: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness. New York:
Oxford University Press. An examination of consciousness by a leading cognitive scientist. He
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maintains that some aspects of the human mind go beyond computation.
Ward, C. A. (ed.). (1989). Altered States of Consciousness and Mental Health: A Cross-Cultural Perspective.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Cross-cultural research and methodology series, vol. 12.
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DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY
PROGRAM 13: THE MIND AWAKE AND ASLEEP
Overview
The nature of sleeping, dreaming, and altered states of consciousness, and how consciousness
empowers us to interpret, analyze, and direct our behavior in adaptive, flexible ways.
Key Issues
Biological rhythms, how attention works, daydreams, the restorative functions of sleep,
procedures for the study of sleep and dreams, the physiological origins of dreams, and lucid
dreaming.
Demonstrations
The activation–synthesis explanation of dreams.
Lucid dreaming.
Interviews
Ernest Harman examines the restorative functions of sleep and the procedures for the study of
sleep and dreams.
Robert McCarley examines the physiological origins of dreaming.
Steven LaBerge examines the ability of some dreamers to take conscious control of their dreams.
PROGRAM 14: THE MIND HIDDEN AND DIVIDED
Overview
How the events and experiences that take place below the level of consciousness alter our
moods, bias our actions, and affect our health, as demonstrated in multiple personality
(dissociative identity disorder), hypnosis, and split-brain patients.
Key Issues
The effects of subconscious knowledge on emotional states, consciousness altering drugs,
multiple personality disorder (dissociative identity disorder), Freud’s concept of repression,
hypnotic control of pain and perception, split brain research, and testing.
Archival Demonstrations
Demonstration of a client with dissociative identity disorder.
Candid Camera clip demonstrating the difference between public and private behavior.
Interviews
F. W. Putnam discusses the common experiences of people with dissociative identity disorder.
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FILMS AND VIDEOS
Addiction Caused by Mixing Medicines (1992). FFHS, 19 minutes
Addresses the problem of addiction resulting from mixing nonaddictive prescription drugs.
An Easy to Swallow Pill (1980). CRK, 28 minutes
Explores prescription drug abuse through interviews with doctors and patients. Shows that we
have turned our common social and emotional problems into diseases, and abandoned self-help in
favor of drugs. An excellent film as background for a discussion of the medical model. Pills are
immediately reinforcing because they reduce symptoms, but they do not necessarily fix an
underlying problem.
Cocaine Abuse: The End of the Line (1984). AIMS, 25 minutes
Actor Richard Dryfuss discusses the dangers of cocaine abuse as dramatized by five former
abusers. Shows some of the severe physical and psychological effects of extensive cocaine
involvement. An excellent, compelling film.
Dreams: Theater of the Night (1988). FFHS, 28 minutes
Examines theories of dreams from Freud to today’s neuroscience and dream laboratory findings. A
lively film. Selected for preview at the APA convention, 1989.
Dream Voyage (1998). IU (FFHS), 26 minutes
Explains what happens to the body during sleep. Looks at the mystery of REM sleep, shows a
computer display of the waves that sweep across the brain during sleep, and presents footage of a
cat acting out its dreams. Illustrates graphically, using an analogy of sleep to a ship on automatic
pilot, how some functions continue while the conscious brain is asleep.
Hypnosis: Four BBC Documentaries (1982). FI, 49 to 55 minutes
Hypnosis and Healing
In this film, physicians and patients describe their successes with hypnosis.
Hypnosis: Can Your Mind Control Pain?