REM-dreams recall in patients with narcolepsy-cataplexy.
Brain Research Bulletin January 15, 2010 Michela Mazzetti, Claudia Bellucci, Katia Mattarozzi et al.
People with narcolepsy-cataplexy (NC) produce longer and more complex dream reports after the first REM period of the night than healthy controls, suggesting their dream-generation cognitive processes reach optimal functioning earlier. In a study of 14 NC patients and matched controls, dream recall rates were similar (about 90%), but NC patients' spontaneous reports after the first REM awakening were longer and more structurally complex, and half also provided prompted reports of additional dream content. After the third REM awakening, both groups gave prompted reports at similar rates. The findings indicate that in NC the brain mechanisms for constructing dream narratives become fully active earlier in the night, and raise the question of whether prompted and spontaneous reports describe the same or different dreams.