DIFFERENT EFFECT OF AN AUDITORY STIMULUS AS A FUNCTION OF RAPID EYE MOVEMENT AND NON-RAPID EYE MOVEMENT SLEEP

Subjects were stimulated by a specially arranged auditory stimulus during rapid and non-rapid eye movement (REM and NREM) sleep. This stimulus can elicit primary and secondary process levels of responses. Analysis of the sleep reports showed that the stimulus influenced the content of NREM reports on a conceptual level—which is assumed to be related to secondary process thinking—while for REM reports this effect was not present. The results of this study support the hypothesis of different levels of thought organization associated with REM and NREM sleep.