Biomedical subjects

P Cicogna

Publications and source records attributed to P Cicogna.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Slow wave and REM sleep mentation.

The aim of this experiment was to compare the characteristics of mental activity during REM and Slow Wave Sleep (SWS). Forty dream reports and their mnemonic associations were collected from twenty subjects. The reports were analyzed for structure (number of temporal units, number of report multi-units, and narrative continuity), awareness (reality testing, subjective time), and content (self, setting, laboratory references, number of non-self characters, implausibility, body feelings, number and intensity of emotions, vividness). Associations were classified as episodic and semantic memories. Results showed that REM reports were significantly longer than SWS reports. Minor content SWS-REM differences were also detected, which were more quantitative than qualitative. The collected observations might support the tentative hypothesis that dreaming is a continuous process, which is not unique to REM sleep. Different levels of engagement of the cognitive system are responsible for the SWS-REM differences that were detected.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Dreaming during sleep onset and awakening.

The aim of the present work was to investigate the characteristics of the dreaming during the beginning and the end of sleep, both phases being transitional between different states of consciousness (wakefulness vs sleep and vice versa). The hypothesis of an adaptive function of the mental activity in the two sleep phases is put forward to ensure a continuity of self-experience in the passage from one state of vigilance to another. 40 dream reports collected at sleep onset and at spontaneous morning awakening, when analysed, supported the hypothesis. Independently of the physiological sleep stage during which dreaming occurs, the results seem to highlight similarities rather than differences in dreaming which occurs during sleep onset and morning awakening.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Slow wave sleep dreaming.

Fifty volunteers slept two nonconsecutive nights in a sleep laboratory under electropolygraphic control. They were awakened for one report per night. Awakenings were made, in counterbalanced order, from slow wave sleep (SWS--stage 3-4 and stage 4) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Following dream reporting, subjects were asked to identify memory sources of their dream imagery. Two independent judges reliably rated mentation reports for temporal units and for several content and structural dimensions. The same judges also categorized memory sources as autobiographical episodes, abstract self-references, or semantic knowledge. We found that REM reports were significantly longer than SWS reports. Minor content SWS-REM differences were also detected. Moreover, semantic knowledge was more frequently mentioned as a dream source for REM than for SWS dream reports. These findings are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that dreaming is a continuous process that is not unique to REM sleep. Different levels of engagement of the cognitive system are responsible for the few SWS-REM differences that have been detected.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Cognitive aspects of mental activity during sleep.

Upon nighttime experimental awakening of 27 subjects in four sleep conditions (sleep onset early; sleep onset late; Stage 2; and rapid eye movement, REM, sleep), 108 dream reports and their association reports were collected. Dream reports were analyzed for length (temporal units) and content categories (continuity; implausibility; presence of the dreamer [i.e., "the self"], a setting, characters). Associations were classified as episodic, abstract self-referred, and semantic memories. The two sets of results tend to show a basic homogeneity among mentation reports in the four sleep conditions considered. These findings are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that the same cognitive mechanisms operate, at different levels of engagement, in dream generation rather than the hypothesis of multiple dream-generation systems dependent upon the physiological characteristics of the various sleep stages.

Adult↗

PubMed1986

Differential access to memory traces in the production of mental experience.

Two experiments were performed to determine the nature of the memory traces used in the production of mental experiences (dreams, daydreams). Free associations with dreams, collected upon experimental awakenings in Sleep Onset and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, were classified as strict episodes, abstract self-references, or semantic traces, adapting Tulving's model (Experiment 1). Results showed that associations with Sleep Onset dreams were mainly strict episodes while REM associations were evenly distributed: that represents a psychophysiological state-dependency of the access to memory traces. A comparison of free associations with dream, daydreams, and films (Experiment 2) showed a similarity between access to memory traces in daydreaming and Sleep Onset dreaming. Physiological condition was not a discriminating factor. This homogeneity suggests that cognitive processes involved in the creation of original narrative sequences may be similar in sleep and waking. These findings and their interpretation tend to support a unitary theory of the mind rather than dichotomous models which, in dream research, have often been misleading.

Adult↗

PubMed1982

Self-representation in dream experiences during sleep onset and REM sleep.

The Scoring System for Latent Structure (SSLS) was used to test three hypotheses regarding the degree of self-participation in dreams reported during sleep onset (SO) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. These hypotheses were that (a) the ratio of interactive to associative sentences would be significantly greater in REM than in SO; (b) the level of Ego activity would be significantly greater in REM than in SO; and (c) the ratio between interactive sentences with Ego not present and interactive sentences with Ego present would be significantly different in REM and in SO. None of these hypotheses was confirmed. However, the following significant differences were found: (a) the ratio between sentences with Ego substituted and the total number of interactive sentences was greater in REM than in SO (p less than 0.05); (b) the ratio between sentences with Ego substituted and sentences with Ego present was greater (p less than 0.05) in REM than in SO; (c) the ratio between sentences with Ego inserted and sentences with Ego substituted was greater in SO than in REM (p less than 0.01); and (d) the relative incidence of defective Ego was greater (p less than 0.01) in SO than in REM. These data were interpreted in terms of psychodynamic models of dream formation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1980

Epileptic seizures during card games and draughts.

This paper presents a case of epileptic seizures occurring during card games and draughts. The patient was a 26-year-old man who complained of "arrests of thought" while playing cards or draughts or solving mathematical problems. The attacks, which were very rare in other situations, had begun at the age of 14. Between the ages of 14 and 21 he had had occasional tonic-clonic seizures. Protracted EEG recording showed bursts of 3 Hz spike-wave discharges during the day. Such discharges were very much more frequent when the patient was playing cards of draughts and only these circumstances were subjectively experienced as lapses of consciousness. Various explanations can be advanced for this case.

Adolescent↗