CONJUGATE LATERAL EYE MOVEMENTS AND PATTERNS OF DREAM RECALL.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

GREENBERG, MARK STEVEN.

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania.

Subjects (All):

Psychobiology.

0349.

Local Subjects:

0349.

Physical Description:

107 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 42-06B.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

The present study investigates the relation between neurological activation and dream recall among dextral male and female undergraduates. Waking conjugate lateral eye movements (CLEMs) were adopted as the index of cerebral activation. Subjects' characteristic CLEM directional preferences in response to 10 verbal and 10 spatial questions were assessed in a face-to-face screening trial. Subjects executing at least 70% of total eye movements in one direction were classified as "movers." Those failing to reach this criterion were classified as "bi-directionals."

Subjects tape recorded their dreams at home, at the moment of awakening, for three days. Blind ratings along several content and structural dimensions were performed on the dream protocols.

The most salient finding was a sex by CLEM interaction on measures related to primary process thinking. Left-moving males and right-moving females reported dreams that were high in primary process. These dreams were described in explicit perceptual detail, and contained many scenes, rapid shifts in time and space, unrealistic settings, impossible situations, bizarre transformations, and dysphoric content. Right-moving males and left-moving females reported dreams that were lower in primary and higher in secondary process mentation. These subjects tended to give conceptual explanations of dreams that contained fewer scenes, more coherent plots, greater realism, and less dysphoria. The dream protocols of bi-directional subjects fell in between these two extremes.

These results were interpreted in light of recent findings that suggest sex differences in neurological organization. It was concluded that sex-atypical patterns of cerebral activation are associated with dream reports that are high in primary process thinking.

The implications of the present findings for the psychoanalytic theory of dreaming were discussed.

Notes:

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: B, page: 2594.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1981.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.