Increased Evoked Potentials to Arousing Auditory Stimuli during Sleep: Implication for the Understanding of Dream Recall.
Raphael Vallat, Tarek Lajnef, Jean-Baptiste Eichenlaub, Christian Berthomier, Karim Jerbi, Dominique Morlet, Perrine Ruby
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2017 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00132 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 36 |
| Population | High and low dream recallers |
| Duration | Whole night of sleep |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Keywords | EEG Arousals Awakenings Oddball paradigm Sleep |
| Key findings | Awakening duration, not arousal, is the critical parameter for dream recall, with a minimum necessary awakening duration of approximately 2 minutes. |
Abstract
High dream recallers (HR) show a larger brain reactivity to auditory stimuli during wakefulness and sleep as compared to low dream recallers (LR) and also more intra-sleep wakefulness (ISW), but no other modification of the sleep macrostructure. To further understand the possible causal link between brain responses, ISW and dream recall, we investigated the sleep microstructure of HR and LR, and tested whether the amplitude of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) was predictive of arousing reactions during sleep. Participants (18 HR, 18 LR) were presented with sounds during a whole night of sleep in the lab and polysomnographic data were recorded. Sleep microstructure (arousals, rapid eye movements (REMs), muscle twitches (MTs), spindles, KCs) was assessed using visual, semi-automatic and automatic validated methods. AEPs to arousing (awakenings or arousals) and non-arousing stimuli were subsequently computed. No between-group difference in the microstructure of sleep was found. In N2 sleep, auditory arousing stimuli elicited a larger parieto-occipital positivity and an increased late frontal negativity as compared to non-arousing stimuli. As compared to LR, HR showed more arousing stimuli and more long awakenings, regardless of the sleep stage but did not show more numerous or longer arousals. These results suggest that the amplitude of the brain response to stimuli during sleep determine subsequent awakening and that awakening duration (and not arousal) is the critical parameter for dream recall. Notably, our results led us to propose that the minimum necessary duration of an awakening during sleep for a successful encoding of dreams into long-term memory is approximately 2 min.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... | 2009 | Observational study | n = 6 |
| Nightmare Prevalence, Nightmare Distress, and Self-Reported Psychological Disturbance Young adults with a mean age of 20 years | 2002 | Prospective observational study | n = 116 |
| Long-term effects of extreme situational stress on sleep and dreaming Survivors of traumatic events who complained of sleep disturbances, compared with... | 1987 | Case-control study | n = 11 |
| The relationship of nightmare frequency and nightmare distress to well‐being Adults who reported dreams | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 147 |
| Dreaming in NREM Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study of Slow Waves and Spindles Healthy human subjects | 2018 | Observational cohort | n = 14 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 33
- What about dreams? State of the art and open questions Journal of Sleep Research April 13, 2022
- Incorporation of recent waking-life experiences in dreams correlates with frontal theta activity in REM sleep Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience May 29, 2018
- Increased Awakenings From Non-rapid Eye Movement Sleep Explain Differences in Dream Recall Frequency in Healthy Individuals Frontiers in Human Neuroscience October 15, 2019
- A Novel Approach to Dream Content Analysis Reveals Links Between Learning-Related Dream Incorporation and Cognitive Abilities Frontiers in Psychology August 6, 2018
- Investigation on Neurobiological Mechanisms of Dreaming in the New Decade Brain Sciences February 11, 2021
and 28 more in the library
Cites 6
- Factors of home dream recall: a structural equation model Journal of Sleep Research May 12, 2003
- Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives Frontiers in Psychology 2011
- Resting brain activity varies with dream recall frequency between subjects. Neuropsychopharmacology June 1, 2014
- Brain reactivity differentiates subjects with high and low dream recall frequencies during both sleep and wakefulness. Cerebral Cortex May 1, 2014
- Alpha reactivity to first names differs in subjects with high and low dream recall frequency. Frontiers in Psychology 2013
and 1 more in the library