Cognitive Asymmetry and Dreaming: Lack of Relationship
Peretz Lavie, Orna Tzischinsky
The American Journal of Psychology 1985 DOI: 10.2307/1422621 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 14 |
| Population | Right-handed males aged 20-30 years; 52 tested, 14 selected for the sleep laboratory phase |
| Duration | 3 experimental nights per subject |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key findings | Dream recall rate and dream evaluation scores (bizarreness, emotions, visual elements, dreamlike versus thoughtlike character) showed no correlation with cognitive laterality scores. Eye movement density during REM sleep was significantly positively correlated with total performance of the two hemispheres. The authors conclude that dreaming cannot be seen as a right-hemisphere function. |
Abstract
The present study investigated the relationship between cognitive laterality and dream recall, dream characteristics, and eye movement density in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Fifty-two right-handed males, age 20-30 years, were tested on a six-test battery of which three tests measure right hemisphere function and three tests measure left hemisphere function. Based on their performance, 14 subjects were selected for a sleep laboratory study. Each spent 3 experimental nights in the laboratory during which they were awakened from REM sleep for dream reports. Dream reports were scored for bizarreness, emotions, visual elements, and overall "dreamlike" versus "thoughtlike" character. Subjects were awakened from 123 REM periods, of which 96 yielded positive dream reports (78.04%). Neither the rate of recall nor the four evaluation scores were correlated with the laterality scores that were constructed from the six-test battery. Eye movement density during REM sleep was significantly positively correlated with the total performance of the two hemispheres. These results do not support the alleged lateralization of dreaming. In agreement with recent reports in the literature, it is concluded that dreaming cannot be seen as a "right hemisphere" function.
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 |
| The prevalence of nightmares and their independence from anxiety. Undergraduates | 1990 | Observational study using daily dream logs | n = 220 |