The authors studied 104 dreams obtained from 14 subjects and quantified
the formal aspects of the subjects' dream experiences by the following
categories: movement in dreams, sensation, affect, dream bizarreness, and
dream lucidity. Their results are compared with the predictions of the
activation-synthesis hypothesis, which postulates that the characteristic
formal aspects of dreams correspond to characteristic aspects of
physiological activation during REM sleep. Although further experimental
work is needed, the authors show that their results are consistent with and
supportive of the activation-synthesis hypothesis.Abstract Teaser