Rapid eye movements and visual imagery during sleep.

A number of early findings supported the notion that there is a correspondence between eye movements and the visual imagery of dreams. Subsequent studies, however, yielded contradictory results. It is suggested that eye movements might occasionally be related to the visual imagery of dreams, but that the notion of a constant isomorphic relationship between the 2 is untenable. It is also noted that REM bursts might correspond in other ways to dream content, i.e., as an integral and parallel part of the total picture of Stage 1 REM activation. (36 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ratings of psychology journals by members of the Canadian Psychological Association.

Analysis of Canadian ratings indicates similarities with journal rankings from the American Psychological Association survey sample. Two Canadian psychology journals were ranked in the top 10. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Height perception: A function of social distance.

Investigated the effects of (a) status-related ethnic membership, and (b) the prejudice of the O on height perception. Ss were 126 undergraduates who were shown slides of various objects and people in a counter-balanced fashion. It was found that height-equated individuals rated high on the Bogardus Social Distance Scale were perceived as taller than height-equated individuals rated low on the Bogardus Social Distance Scale. The implications of these findings are discussed. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dream content and adaptation to a stressful situation.

Conducted an investigation with 24 male undergraduates, 8 of whom were controls. 16 Ss slept in the laboratory for 3 nonconsecutive nights. On the 3rd night Ss saw a stressful film before going to sleep and again in the morning. Half of the Ss were presented with part of the sound track of the film during rapid eye movement (REM) periods at an intensity below the waking threshold (film-sound condition) while the other half were not (film-alone condition). The dreams of the Ss in the film-sound condition contained significantly more incorporations of film elements than those of Ss in the film-alone condition, suggesting that the presentation of the sound stimulus during REM periods was partially successful in enhancing the effects of the film on dreams. Contrary to expectations, Ss who exhibited more emotionality at the 2nd presentation of the film tended to be those who had more incorporations of film elements in their dreams; thus it appears that film incorporation interfered with the adaptation to stress. Finally, a group of Ss who saw the film twice, with an 8-hr waking interval, tended to be more anxious at the 2nd presentation than Ss who slept during the interval. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What's in a name? A reply to Adams and Peery.

G. R. Adams and J. C. Peery (1980) have criticized studies by D. Koulack and H. J. Keselman (see record 1976-24649-001) and K. C. Mace and H. D. Warner (1973) for including a journal not published since 1945 in their studies and have suggested that journal ranking is a "game." However, such studies provide information about which journals are considered important by professional colleagues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of densensitization on the sleep and dreams of a phobic subject.

Studied the sleep and dreams of a 22-yr-old male undergraduate who had complained of fear of noise and closed spaces and had consequently undergone 9 1-hr desensitization sessions within a 2-wk period. On 11 nights, prior to, during, and after sensitization training, the S slept in an air-conditioned, sound-proof experimental room while his physiological responses were monitored. The 1st 2 nights were adaptation nights, the 3rd night was a dream collection night, and the remaining 8 nights consisted of 2 blocks of nonconsecutive nights which were used to record uninterrupted sleep or to collect dreams. Upon being awakened on dream nights, the S reported dream content and rated each dream on a modified version of the Nowlis Mood Adjective Checklist (NMAC). Data show that time to get to sleep (associated with anxiety), REM density (associated with bizarreness and emotionality), and 2 inner-focused negative affect dimensions of the NMAC exhibited a 'U'-shaped function over the course of the study. Findings indicate that removal of affective discharge from what were usually disturbing stimuli reduced the effects of such stimuli on sleep and dreams. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Model for the recall of dreams upon waking, proposed to account for impairment of memory of dreams]

To study the carbohydrate metabolism in uremic patients, the intravenous glucose tolerance test (iv GTT) and insulin sensitivity test were investigated on 69 patients with chronic renal failure, 27 of whom were under the dialysis treatment. 1) Abnormal K-values averaging 1.05 were obtained in uremic patients (creatinine clearance less than 20 ml/min). 2) Carbohydrate intolerance in uremic patients was corrected with regular dialysis and the improvement was correlated with the duration of dialyses. 3) The mechanisms of improvement in carbohydrate metabolism were different between the short-term dialysis group (less than 12 months of dialysis) and the long-term group (more than 12 months). Enhanced secretion of insulin seemed to be the main cause of this improvement in the former, while the correction of impaired sensitivity to insulin in peripheral tissues in the latter.     

Development of a mouse aortic transplant model of chronic rejection

Chronic rejection is the most common cause of late graft failure after solid organ transplantation. A model of chronic rejection, the rat aortic allograft, has histologic features that parallel those in the vessels of human transplanted organs. However, the molecular tools required to dissect the immunology of chronic rejection are unavailable in the rat. We developed aortic transplantation in the mouse as a new model of chronic rejection. This will allow the use of the diversity of recombinant cytokines and monoclonal antibodies available for the mouse and its well-defined genetics to investigate chronic rejection in greater detail. We describe the perioperative care and surgical technique for the model in which a 1 cm segment of donor thoracic aorta was used to replace a section of recipient abdominal aorta below the renal arteries and above the aortic bifurcation. Mortality rates were initially high (70%) due to thrombosis and shock. Changes in technique and operator facility resulted in a high rate of success (75%). After 192 operations, the current success rate is > 80%. Mice free from complications at 12 hrs postop had indefinite survival, and after 2 months the typical vascular lesion of chronic rejection was present. This new model of chronic rejection will be a valuable tool to study the molecular immunology and genetics of chronic rejection.     

Recognition memory, sleep and circadian rhythms.

Examined the effects of sleep on memory. In Exp 1, 43 Ss learned a list of words and were tested for recognition 24 hrs later. For the delayed sleep group, learning was followed by a period of wakefulness; for the immediate sleep group, it was followed by a period of sleep. Retention was significantly better for the immediate sleep group. In Exp 2, 69 Ss were tested approximately 8 hrs after learning. The normal waking group learned and was tested after a period of daytime wakefulness; the normal sleep group learned and was tested after a period of nighttime sleep; and the sleep deprivation group learned and was tested after a period of nighttime wakefulness. In agreement with previous work (e.g., J. G. Jenkins and K. M. Dallenbach, 1924), retention for the normal sleep group was superior to that of the normal waking group; however, retention was not better for the normal sleep group than for the sleep deprivation group. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repression, interference, and field dependence as factors in dream forgetting.

Tested a number of hypotheses about the effect of presleep stress on dream recall among 28 field-dependent and field-independent male Ss to explore the role of repression and of dream affect in dream recall. The effect of presleep stress was to increase arousal during REM sleep and affect in dream reports. The data also suggest that the most affectful dreams are best recalled. Among field-dependent Ss, dream content was reported less frequently on stress than on neutral nights, but no stress effect on dream report frequency was found among field-independent Ss. Results are discussed in terms of repression theory and of a possible alternative explanation, i.e., that stress-produced anxiety interferes with attentional processes required for dream recall at the moment of awakening. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)