The Effect of REM Deprivation: Is It Detrimental, Beneficial, or Neutral?

Abstract

Based on the assumption that the mental aspect of REM sleep is an extreme state of divergent thinking, it was hypothesized that the psychological effect of REM deprivation varies on a dimension of creativity versus rote learning. On the creativity pole, REM deprivation has a damaging effect, while on the rote learning pole, it has a beneficial effect. The subjects (.Ss) were 12 male undergraduate students. Each spent 3 nights in the laboratory. Ss served us their own controls, with 5 days separating the REM deprivation and the non‐REM deprivation nights. Before going to bed, each of the Ss was given 4 tasks, on which testing took place the fallowing morning. Comparable tasks, in a balanced design, were used on the REM deprivation and on the non‐REM deprivation nights, The tasks given were: (a) serial memory, (b) “clustering” memory, (c) word fluency, and (d) Guilford's Utility Test. Results showed a significant decrement in creativity (the Guilford's Utility Test), and a significant increment in role memory (the serial memory task), due to REM deprivation. No significant differences were found for the other 2 tasks used, which were somewhere in‐between the two extreme poles of creativity and role learning. These results might explain earlier, contradictory findings in this area. These results lend further support to the general assumption that REM sleep is used by the organism for internal information processing. However, an additional assumption has to be. made, that this pr…