Chester Pearlman

The Effect of Dream (Stage REM) Deprivation on Adaptation to Stress

&NA; The role of dreaming in the assimilation and mastery of new experiences was examined in this study. Previous work had shown that a film of an autopsy can evoke measurable psychologic and physiologic indices of anxiety. Adaptation to the experience was indicated by lower levels of anxiety during a second viewing of the film. We examined the effect of dream (Stage REM) deprivation on adaptation to the second viewing. Between the first and second viewings, 9 subjects were dream deprived, 5 had normal sleep and 6 were awakened from non‐REM sleep. For those who showed a significant anxiety response to the first viewing, the dream deprived group showed significantly less adaptation to the second viewing than the other two groups. These results support the hypothesis that dreaming aids adaptation to anxiety‐provoking stimuli.

Posttrial REM sleep: A critical period for consolidation of shuttlebox avoidance

Deprivation of REM sleep for 2 h immediately following shuttlebox avoidance training produced deficient retention at 24 h after initial training. REM deprivation beginning 2 h after training had no effect. REM sleep appears to be involved in consolidation of this learning.

REM sleep deprivation impairs bar-press acquisition in rats.

Abstract Brief REM sleep deprivation immediately after training temporarily retarded bar-press acquisition, abolished observational learning of the bar-press habit, and prevented adaptation to a shift from a CRF to a DRL schedule. These results support the information-processing model of REM sleep function.

Brief posttrial REM sleep deprivation impairs discrimination learning in rats

Deprivation of REM sleep (REMD) for about 3 h immediately after each training session greatly impaired brightness discrimination learning in a Y-maze. REMD beginning 2 h after training had no effect. Immediate REMD did not impair position learning in this maze. These results suggested that one function of REM sleep is the consolidation or assimilation of information for which the animal is relatively unprepared, as described by Seligman (1970). Consolidation of learning for which the rat is prepared appears to be independent of REM sleep.

A Research-Based Reconsideration of the Psychoanalytic Theory of Dreaming:

We present a brief review of sleep research which, when combined with psychoanalytic experience, has led to the hypothesis that REM sleep and dreaming serve the function of adaptation by the process of integration of information. We then report the results of a study of dreams, based on this hypothesis. We studied dreams and their relation to waking mental activity and found a correlation between problems in manifest dreams and those in pre- and postsleep waking life. Dreams can be understood on the basis of problems that appear in them. We also found evidence for a relation between the solution of problems in dreams and the fate of those problems the next day. We discuss these findings in relation to some of the controversies about dreaming, and then present suggestions for future research.

Impairment of environmental effects on brain weight by adrenergic drugs in rats

Injection of clonidine or methyldopa in rats immediately after daily two-hour exposure to a complex environment (EC) reduced the increase in occipital cortical weight normally associated with such exposure in comparison with animals kept in isolation. Drug injection four hours after EC exposure had no effect. Drug induced suppression of REM sleep during the first four hours after EC exposure was suggested to be the critical variable.

REM sleep deprivation impairs latent extinction in rats

Abstract Preextinction exposure to some aspects of the nonreward condition has been shown to facilitate extinction of bar pressing. Deprivation of REM sleep immediately following preextinction experience blocked this facilitation. REM sleep appears to be necessary for assimilation of the preextinction experience.

REM sleep and the analytic process: a psychophysiologic bridge.

Recent research on the physiology of REM sleep has supported the hypothesis that it serves processes of psychologic adaptation. This study examines the relationship between physiologic parameters of REM sleep and evidence in analytic material of the need for adaptation. Significant correlations were found between defensive strain before sleep and REM latency, and between change in defensive strain from evening to morning and total REM time.

REM sleep deprivation impairs serial reversal and probability maximizing in rats

Deprivation of REM sleep (REMD) for about 3 h immediately after training greatly impaired serial spatial reversal and spatial-probability maximizing. REMD beginning 3 h after training had no effect. These results are consistent with the fact that these tasks clearly distinguish the learning ability of species with REM sleep (mammals, birds) from those without REM sleep (fish). The results suggest that the greater flexibility of mammalian behavior compared to that of lower species involves a REM-sleep information-processing mechanism.

Retroactive impairment of cooperative learning by imipramine and chlordiazepoxide in rats

Pairs of rats were placed in an apparatus where their sole food source hung over an electrified grid. The current was shut off only while one rat remained on a platform out of reach of the food, thus allowing his partner to eat. Mastery of the process of taking turns at eating required about 10 daily sessions. Injection of imipramine or chlordiazepoxide a few minutes after each feeding session prevented the development of this cooperative behavior. Drug injection 3 hrs after each session had no effect. Suppression of REM sleep during the first 3 hrs after training was considered the most likely mechanism of the drug-induced impairment.