DREAMING DURING SLEEP ONSET AND AWAKENING
Perceptual and Motor Skills June 1, 1994 DOI: 10.2466/pms.1994.78.3.1041 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 40 |
| Population | Dream reports collected at sleep onset and spontaneous morning awakening |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Citations | 7 |
| Key points | The author argues that mental activity during the transitional phases of sleep onset and morning awakening serves an adaptive function, maintaining continuity of self-experience across states of vigilance. Analysis of 40 dream reports supported this hypothesis, with dreaming at sleep onset and morning awakening showing similarities rather than differences regardless of physiological sleep stage. |
Abstract
The aim of the present work was to investigate the characteristics of the dreaming during the beginning and the end of sleep, both phases being transitional between different states of consciousness (wakefulness vs sleep and vice versa). The hypothesis of an adaptive function of the mental activity in the two sleep phases is put forward to ensure a continuity of self-experience in the passage from one state of vigilance to another. 40 dream reports collected at sleep onset and at spontaneous morning awakening, when analysed, supported the hypothesis. Independently of the physiological sleep stage during which dreaming occurs, the results seem to highlight similarities rather than differences in dreaming which occurs during sleep onset and morning awakening.