Auditory Verbal Experience and Agency in Waking, Sleep Onset, REM, and Non‐REM Sleep
Cognitive Science March 22, 2016 Jana Speth, Trevor A. Harley, Clemens Speth 9 citations
The degree to which healthy people report hearing voices or talking to imaginary characters depends on their physiological state of consciousness. Analyzing 569 mentation reports from REM sleep, non-REM sleep, sleep onset, and waking, the study found that REM sleep produced the highest levels of auditory verbal experiences and agency, while sleep onset—traditionally linked to hallucinations—produced the lowest. The quantity and pragmatic features of these experiences vary systematically across states, indicating they are a function of the distinct physiological state in which they occur.