CMLIT 153

Reading Questions

Dement: The Promise of Sleep

Chapters 1 and 2

1. According to Dement, what are the criteria for sleep?

2. Summarize and explain most notable ancient and modern theories about sleep up to the present day.

3. What are some of the principle ways in which scientists study sleep?

4. What is REM? How was it discovered? What are the characteristics of REM sleep and what is paradoxical about it?

5. Explain the typical sleep cycle. What are the different stages? How does the sleep cycle differ with age?

6. How did Dement come to study sleep? What were some of the preconceived notions about sleep in the 1950s when he started his work?

7. What were some of the theories and results of the dream deprivation (or REM deprivation studies)?