Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rapid eye movement sleep, non-rapid eye movement sleep, dreams, and hallucinations

  • Published:
Current Psychiatry Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

After the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in 1953, oneiric activity was long thought to be associated uniquely with REM sleep. Subsequent evaluation of sleep in humans combining neurophysiologic, psychophysiologic, and, more recently, functional neuroimaging investigations, has instead shown that dreaming also occurs during non-REM (NREM) sleep. It has been documented that hallucinatory activity during sleep is a normal phenomenon that is not constant throughout the night but increases toward morning when it tends to become present to the same extent in REM and NREM sleep. The role of sleep mechanisms in the generation of visual hallucinations is well-recognized in narcolepsy in the case of hypnagogic hallucinations, which are thought to derive from a REM-dissociation state in which dream imagery intrudes into wakefulness. Similar mechanisms have been hypothesized to play a role in the physiopathogenesis of visual hallucinations in various neuropsychiatric disorders. Furthermore, a growing body of evidence indicates that not only REM but also NREM processes, such as arousal-related processes, may play a role in the physiopathogenesis of hallucinations in the aforementioned disorders. The role of these processes has been most extensively documented in visual hallucinations occurring in the context of delirium tremens and Parkinson’s disease.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References and Recommended Reading

  1. Dement W, Kleitman N: Cyclic variations in EEG during sleep and their relation to eye movements, body motility, and dreaming. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 1957, 9:673–690.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Jouvet M, Michel F, Courjon J: Sur un stade d’activite’ electrique cerebrale rapide au cours du sommeil physiologique. C R Soc Biol 1959, 153:1024–1028.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Aserinsky E, Kleitman N: Regularly occurring periods of eye motility and concurrent phenomena during sleep. Science 1953, 118:273–274.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Dement W, Kleitman N: The relation of eye movements during sleep to dream activity: An objective method for the study of dreaming. J Exp Psychol 1957, 53:89–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Foulkes D: Dream reports from different stages of sleep. J Abnorm Soc Psychol 1962, 65:14–25.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Foulkes D, Vogel G: Mental activity at sleep onset. J Abnorm Psychol 1965, 70:231–243.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Salzarulo P: Etude electroencephalographique et polygraphique du sommeil d’aprés-midi chez le sujet normal. Electroenceph Clin Neurophysiol 1971, 30:399–407.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Monroe LJ, Rechtschaffen A, Foulkes D, Jensen J: Discriminability of REM and NREM reports. J Pers Soc Psychol 1965, 2:456–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Solms M: Dreaming and REM sleep are controlled by different brain mechanisms. Behav Brain Sci 2000, 23:843–850.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bischof M, Bassetti CL: Total dream loss: a distinct neuropsychological dysfunction after bilateral PCA stroke. Ann Neurol 2004, 56:583–586.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Fagioli I: Mental activity during sleep. Sleep Med Rev 2002, 6:307–320.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Takeuchi T, Ogilvie RD, Murphy TI, Ferrelli AV: EEG activities during elicited sleep onset REM and NREM periods reflect different mechanisms of dream generation. Clin Neurophysiology 2003, 104:210–220. A two-generator model of dreaming in REM and NREM sleep is hypothesized by means of EEG power spectra analysis during REM and NREM dreams. In particular, the role of arousal processes in underlying NREM dreaming is emphasized.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Nielsen TA: A review of mentation in REM and NREM sleep: "Covert" REM sleep as a possible reconciliation of two opposing models. Behav Brain Sci 2000, 23:851–866.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Fosse R, Stickgold R, Hobson JA: Thinking and hallucinating: reciprocal changes in sleep. Psychophysiology 2004, 41:298–305.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Takahasshi K: Intensity of REM sleep. In Rapid Eye Movement sleep. Edited by Maliick BN, Inoue I. New York: Marcel Decker; 1999:382–392.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Werth E, Acherman P, Dijk DJ, Borbely AA: Spindle frequency activity in the sleep EEG: Individual differences and topographic distribution. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiology 1997, 103:535–542.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Maquet P: Functional neuroimaging of normal human sleep by positron emission tomography. Sleep Res 2000, 9:207–231.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Maquet P, Degueldre C, Belfiore G, et al.: Functional neuroanatomy of human rapid-eye-movement sleep and dreaming. Nature 1996, 383:163–166.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Hobson JA, Pace-Schott EF: The cognitive neuroscience of sleep: neuronal systems, consciousness and learning. Nature 2002, 3:679–693.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kramer M: Dreams and Psychopathology. In Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine. Edited by Kryger MH, Roth T, Dement WC. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Company; 2000:511–519.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Maquet P, Schwartz MS: Evaluation of dreams by the neuropsychological approach. Utility in the characterization of cerebral correlates in oneiric activity by functional neuroimaging. Bull Med Acad R Med Belg 2002, 157:214–219. The combination of neurophysiologic, neuropsychologic, and neuroimaging approaches in investigating sleep and dreaming give additional insights about lesional brain syndromes and the neurobiological substrate of their clinical manifestations, including disperceptive phenomena.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Watson D: Dissociations of the night: individual differences in sleep-related experiences and their relation to dissociation and schizotypy. J Abnorm Psychol 2001, 110:526–535.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Thalbourne MA, Houran J: Transliminality, the mental experience inventory, and tolerance of ambiguity. Pers Individ Dif 2000, 28:853–863.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. McCreery C: Hallucinations and arousability: Pointers to a theory of psychosis. In Schyzotipy: Implications for Illness and Health. Edited by Claridge G. New York: Oxford University Press; 1997:251–273.

    Google Scholar 

  25. American Sleep Disorders Association: International Classification of Sleep Disorders, Revised: Diagnostic and Coding Manual. Rochester, MN: American Sleep Disorders Association; 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Szucs A, Janszky J, Hollò A, et al.: Misleading hallucinations in unrecognized narcolepsy. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2003, 108:314–317.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Gurstelle EB, de Oliveira JL: Daytime parahypnagogia: a state of consciousness that occurs when we almost fall asleep. Med Hypoth 2004, 62:166–168.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Ohayon MM: Prevalence of hallucinations and their pathological ssociations in the general population. Psychiatry Res 2000, 97:153–164.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Laroi F, Marczewski P, Van der Linden M: Further evidence of the multi-dimensionality of hallucinatory predisposition: factor structure of a modified version of the Launay-Slade Hallucinations Scale in a normal sample. Eur Psychiatry 2004, 19:15–20. Sleep-related experiences such as hypnagogic hallucinations and vivid dreams are documented to contribute to the multidimensionality of the hallucinatory predisposition in general population. The role of sleep mechanisms in hallucinating is stressed.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. American Psychiatry Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatry Association; 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Lasegue C: Le delire alcoolique n’est pas un delire, mais un reve. Arch Gen Med 1881, 88:513–536.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Greenberg R, Pearlman C: Delirium tremens and dreaming. Am J Psychiatry 1967, 124:133–142.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Tachibana M, Tanaka K, Hishikawa Y, Kaneko Z: A sleep study of acute psychotic states due to alcohol and meprobamate addiction. In Advances in Sleep Research, Volume 2. Edited by Weitzman ED. New York: NY Spectrum Publications; 1975:177–205.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Plazzi G, Montagna P, Meletti S, Lugaresi E: Polysomnographic study of sleeplessness and oneiricisms in the alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Sleep Med 2002, 3:279–282. An altered behavioral state with visual hallucinations in the acute phase of alcohol withdrawal has been documented, using videopolysomnography, to come from a dissociated state of sleep, consisting of atypical transitional state between REM and wake with enacted dreams.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Kulisevsky J, Roldan E: Hallucinations and sleep disturbances in Parkinson’s disease. Neurology 2004, 63:28–30.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Onofrj M, Thomas A, D’Andreamatteo G, et al.: Incidence of RBD and hallucination in patients affected by Parkinson’s disease: 8-year follow-up. Neurol Sci 2002, 23:91–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Goetz CG, Wuu J, Curgian LM, Leurgans S: Hallucinations and sleep disorders in PD: six-year prospective longitudinal study. Neurology 2005, 64:81–86.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Arnulf I, Bonnet AM, Damier P, et al.: Hallucinations, REM sleep, and Parkinson’s disease. A medical hypothesis. Neurology 2000, 55:281–287. Some visual hallucinations in non-demented PD patients have been documented to originate from disordered REM sleep and to consist of dream imagery. Narcolepsy-like disorder rather than a psychogenic one has been thought to underlie psychosis in these patients.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Manni R, Pacchetti C, Terzaghi M, et al.: Hallucinations and sleep-wake cycle in PD. A 24-hour continuous polysomnographic study. Neurology 2002, 59:1979–1981.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Manford M, Andermann F: Complex visual hallucinations: clinical and neurobiological insights. Brain 1998, 121:1819–1840.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Neurologico “C. Mondino” Via Mondino 2, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Raffaele Manni MD

Authors
  1. Raffaele Manni MD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Manni, R. Rapid eye movement sleep, non-rapid eye movement sleep, dreams, and hallucinations. Curr Psychiatry Rep 7, 196–200 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-005-0053-0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-005-0053-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation