NREM sleep spindles are associated with dream recall
Tore Nielsen, Michelle Carr, Cloé Blanchette-Carrière, Louis-Philippe Marquis, Gaëlle Dumel, Elizaveta Solomonova, S. Julien, Claudia Picard-Deland, Tyna Paquette
March 1, 2017 DOI: 10.1556/2053.1.2016.003 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 53 |
| Population | Healthy subjects who had participated in a memory consolidation protocol and varied in self-reported recall of dreams and nightmares |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Fast spindle density positively correlated with all measures of dream recall, most robustly with bad dream recall and REM dream word count. |
Abstract
Both rapid eye movement (REM) sleep dreaming and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep spindles have been linked to processes of memory consolidation. However, relationships between the two phenomena have yet to be explored. In a heterogeneous sample of 53 healthy subjects who had participated in a memory consolidation protocol and who varied in their self-reported recall of dreams and nightmares, we assessed overnight polysomnography, N2 sleep spindle density, REM dream word count, and retrospective estimates of how often they recall dreams, bad dreams (dysphoric dreams, no awakening), and nightmares (dysphoric dreams, with awakenings). Fast spindle density positively correlated with all measures of dream recall but was most robustly associated with bad dream recall and REM dream word count. Correlations with bad dream recall were particularly strong for spindles occurring in sleep cycles 2 and 3 and correlations with word count for cycles 1, 4, and 5. While slow spindle density showed opposite correlation...