REM Sleep Theta Changes in Frequent Nightmare Recallers.

Study
Objectives: To replicate and expand upon past research by evaluating sleep and wake electroencephalographic spectral activity in samples of frequent nightmare (NM) recallers and healthy controls.
Methods: Computation of spectral activity for sleep (non-REM and REM) and wake electroencephalogram recordings from 18 frequent NM recallers and 15 control participants.
Results: There was higher "slow-theta" (2-5 Hz) for NM recallers than for controls during wake, non-REM sleep and REM sleep. Differences were clearest for frontal and central derivations and for REM sleep cycles 2-4. There was also higher beta activity during NREM sleep for NM recallers. Findings partially replicate past research by demonstrating higher relative "slow-theta" (3-4Hz) for NM recallers than for controls. Conclusions: Findings are consistent with a neurocognitive model of nightmares that stipulates cross-state anomalies in emotion processing in NM-prone individuals. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.