Effects of "dream deprivation" on dream content: an attempted cross-night replication.

The present investigation attempted to replicate, in a cross-night design, the recent finding that early-night REM-sleep deprivation leads to more dreamlike late-night REM-sleep mentation. 8 5s were REM deprived on Night 1 and pseudodeprived on Night 3, while 8 5s were run in the reverse order. Reports of mental content were elicited from NREM and REM sleep on Nights 2 and 4. 5s and "watchers" completed Gough Adjective Check Lists (ACLs) on 5 behavior during Days 2 and 4. Deprivation did not produce significant changes in waking behavior, NREM or REM mentation, or in the sleep cycle. These findings were discussed in terms of dream theory and methodological problems of deprivation research. Deprivation did lower daytime oral temperature, and ACL responses did predict physiological compensation from deprivation.