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Characteristics of REM and NREM Dreams

Patrick Mcnamara

Cambridge University Press eBooks February 21, 2019 DOI: 10.1017/9781316817094.012 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Review Peer reviewed
Keywords Dream Phenomenology philosophy Psychoanalysis Developmental psychology Eye movement Epistemology
Key findings NREM dreams tend to be less story-like and bizarre, contain fewer aggressive social interactions, and include more friendly interactions initiated by the dreamer compared to REM dreams.

Abstract

REM dreams and NREM dreams differ in terms of content and phenomenologies, these two dream types do not exhaust dream phenomenology. Relative to REM dreams, NREM dreams tend to be less story-like, bizarre, and contain fewer aggressive social interactions and greater numbers of friendly interactions, at least where the dreamer-initiated interactions are concerned.