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Can observers link dream content to behaviours in rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder? A cross‐sectional experimental pilot study

Katja Valli, Birgit Frauscher, Viola Gschliesser, Elisabeth Wolf, Tina Falkenstetter, Suzana Veiga Schönwald, Laura Ehrmann, Anja Zangerl, Isabelle Marti, Sylvia Boesch, Antti Revonsuo, Werner Poewe, Birgit Högl

Journal of Sleep Research August 4, 2011 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2869.2011.00938.x (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational study Pilot study Peer reviewed
Sample size 6
Population Patients with Parkinson syndrome and REM sleep behavior disorder
Duration 2-3 nights of video-polysomnographic recording
Topics Dreaming
Citations 58
Key findings Dream content can be linked to motor behaviors in RBD above chance level, with a mean matching accuracy of 39.5% (range 0-100%). Matching accuracy was influenced by the clarity of dream reports and the specific nature of movements.

Abstract

Motor activity in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) has been linked to dream content. Systematic and controlled sleep laboratory studies directly assessing the relation between RBD behaviours and experienced dream content are, however, largely lacking. We aimed to investigate whether a link can be established between RBD behaviours and dream content when both are systematically sampled in a controlled setting. We investigated six patients with Parkinson syndrome and RBD who underwent 2-3 nights of video-polysomnographic recording during which they were awakened from REM sleep (10 min after the onset of the second and successive REM periods). Spontaneous free-worded dream reports and a structured dream questionnaire were obtained. Video recordings of motor manifestations were each combined with four dream reports, and seven judges had to match the video clip with the correctly reported dream content from a choice of four possibilities. Of the 35 REM sleep awakenings performed, a total of 17 (48.6%) motor-behavioural episodes with recalled dream content were obtained. The mean of correctly identified video-dream pairs was 39.5% (range 0-100%). Our data showed that reported dream content can be linked to motor behaviours above chance level. Matching accuracy was affected mainly by the clarity of dream reports and the specific nature of movements manifest in video recordings.

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

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