Dreaming

Vivid, visual-auditory and sometimes intensely emotional hypnogic dream imagery is clearly associated with REM sleep.


 * There seems to be a complementary relationship between REM sleep, dreaming, and right temporal-occipital electrophysiological activity.**

Electrophysiological studies or measures of cerebral blood flow have indicated that the right hemisphere becomes highly active during REM, whereas conversely the left brain becomes more active during N-REM. It has also been reported that abnormal and seizure-like activity in the right temporal and temporal-occipital area acts to increase dreaming and REM sleep for an atypically long time period.

Evidence suggests that the right temporal lobe may be more involved than the left in the production of visual-auditory hallucinations and dream-like mental states be they produced secondary to LSD, electrical stimulation, abnormal seizure activity, or occurring naturally during sleep.

Recollection of dreams and hallucinations
It has been reported that electrically induced hallucinated events were usually forgotten by patients within 10 to 15 minutes after the experience, and when questioned the next day memory was not improved. Similar forgetting patterns are characteristic of memory for normal sleep induced dreams as well. It becomes progressively more difficult to recall one's dreams as one spends time in or awakens during NonREM - which is associated with high left temporal lobe and low right lobe activitity.