Malinowski J E, Horton C L
University of Bedfordshire, Vicarage Street, Luton LU1 3JU, UK; University of East London, School of Psychology, Water Lane, Stratford E15 4LZ, UK(1).
Leeds Beckett University, Civic Campus, Calverley Street, Leeds LS1 3HE, UK; DrEAMSLab, Bishop Grosseteste University, Longdales Road, Lincoln LN1 3DY, UK(1).
Conscious Cogn. 2021 Feb;88:103071. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.103071. Epub 2020 Dec 25.
Contributions of specific sleep stages to cognitive processes are increasingly understood. Non-REM sleep is particularly implicated in episodic memory consolidation, whilst REM sleep preferentially consolidates and regulates emotional information, and gives rise to creativity and insight. Dream content reflects these processes: non-REM dreams are more likely to picture episodic memories, whereas REM dreams are more emotional and bizarre. However, across-the-night differences in the memory sources of dream content, as opposed to sleep stage differences, are less well understood. In the present study, 68 participants were awoken from sleep in the early and late night and recorded their dreams and waking-life activities. Early-night dreams were more clearly relatable to (or continuous with) waking life than late-night dreams. Late-night dreams were more emotional-important, more time orientation varied, and more hyperassociative, than early-night dreams. These dream content differences may underlie the mental content that accompanies sleep processes like memory consolidation, emotion-processing, and creativity.
特定睡眠阶段对认知过程的贡献越来越为人所知。非快速眼动睡眠尤其与情景记忆巩固有关，而快速眼动睡眠则优先巩固和调节情绪信息，并产生创造力和洞察力。梦境内容反映了这些过程：非快速眼动梦境更有可能呈现情景记忆，而快速眼动梦境则更具情感性且更为怪异。然而，与睡眠阶段差异相反，梦境内容的记忆来源在夜间的差异则不太为人所理解。在本研究中，68名参与者在深夜和凌晨被唤醒，并记录他们的梦境和清醒时的活动。凌晨的梦境比深夜的梦境与清醒生活的联系更清晰（或更连贯）。深夜的梦境比凌晨的梦境情感上更重要、时间取向更多样，且联想更丰富。这些梦境内容差异可能是伴随记忆巩固、情绪处理和创造力等睡眠过程的心理内容的基础。
