Spatially rearranged vision and REM sleep: a lack of effect

An observation first made in our laboratory was responsible for focusing our attention upon an apparent increase in REM sleep in relation to altered visual experiences during the day. This finding was consistent with certain information-processing theories of REM sleep function and seemed to offer experimental support for them. Therefore, we proceeded to conduct a series of closely related experiments, designed to investigate further the possible REM-augmenting effects of spatially rearranged vision. Although our first two experiments seemed to support the original observation, subsequent, more carefully designed experiments, did not. The combined results from all of our experiments forced us to conclude that there is no consistent effect of distorted daytime vision on the amount or percentage of REM sleep. REM latency, or the number of rapid eye movements during REM periods. We suggest that future research on the topic employ experiments specifically designed to explore relationships between personality variables and a subject's REM sleep response to altered sensory input.