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Are the Eye Movements of Dreaming Sleep Related to the Visual Images of the Dreams?
Author(s) -
Jacobs Lawrence,
Feldman Martin,
Bender Morris B.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1972.tb01786.x
Subject(s) - eye movement , psychology , dream , electrooculography , action (physics) , rapid eye movement sleep , gaze contingency paradigm , audiology , visual perception , neuroscience , perception , medicine , physics , quantum mechanics
As a result of recording eye movements during Stage REM sleep by AC electrooculography (EOG) previous investigators concluded that each eye movement is the response to the visual action in each dream. When we repeated the study using DC EOG it was discovered that only a minority of eye movements during Stage REM are in the direction of the visual action in the dream. If only single, large amplitude, prominent eye movements are considered then most such movements are related to colorful, compelling visual action occurring as a prominent single visual action against a quiet background. The AC recording method used in past studies emphasizes these isolated movements; perhaps this explains the disparity in results. At any rate, most eye movements during REM sleep are unrelated to the action in the dream. When these eye movements were analyzed in regard to the direction of movements, sequential order of movements, and randomness in time, we found that similar patterns of oculomotor output were found in all subjects. Thus, the nervous system executes a patterned output of oculomotor activity during dreaming sleep which is fairly consistent in all subjects. At times, however, a link is established between the visual and oculomotor systems and the eyes respond to visual action.