Dream recall after sleep interruption in brain-injured patients.
Luigi Murri, R Massetani, Gabriele Siciliano, L Giovanditti, Rosario Arena
Sleep December 1985 DOI: 10.1093/sleep/8.4.356 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 19 |
| Population | Patients with unilateral hemispheric lesions of vascular or neoplastic nature who had experienced dream recall at least once a week before disease onset |
| Duration | 10 consecutive days of morning diary; subsequent provoked awakenings during stage 2 NREM and REM sleep |
| Measures | morning diary, provoked awakening during stage 2 NREM and REM sleep |
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key findings | Among 19 patients with unilateral brain lesions, 7 reported dreaming in a 10-day morning diary and 11 reported dreaming when awakened from stage 2 NREM and REM sleep. Loss of dream recall was more frequent with temporo-parieto-occipital lesions than with lesions outside this region, and diary and provoked-awakening results agreed significantly. |
Abstract
Nineteen patients with unilateral hemispheric lesions of a vascular or neoplastic nature were studied. Before the onset of disease, these patients had experienced dream recall at least once a week. During hospitalization their dream recall was investigated using a morning diary for 10 consecutive days. During this period, seven patients reported having dreamed, whereas 12 had no dream recall. Subsequently, the patients' sleep was interrupted during both stage 2 NREM and REM sleep. With this method, 11 patients reported having dreamed at least once, whereas eight had no dream recall. Patients with lesions in the temporo-parieto-occipital region had a more frequent loss of dream recall than those with lesions outside this area. The agreement between the results obtained using the diary and those from provoked awakening was significant. The results obtained from compilation of a diary on morning awakening appear sufficiently reliable to reveal the presence or absence of dream recall in patients with focal cerebral lesions in the acute phase of the disease.