Abstract Mkid 68

The principal aim of the present work was to compare the presence of bizarreness in sleep mentation during the first four cycles of sleep. 645 dream reports (342 REM reports and 303 St.2 reports) were obtained from the Dream Data Bank of the sleep laboratory of the Bologna University Department of Psychology. The distribution of the dream reports within the nights was: 203 St.2 (sleep onset) and 103 REM reports in the first cycle, 63 St.2 (descending) and 157 REM in the second, 15 St.2 and 49 REM in the third and 22 St.2 and 33 REM reports in the fourth one. The dream reports were analysed for length (number of temporal units) and bizarreness (implausibility, dimensional distortion, and space-time distortion). On the whole the results showed that the presence of bizarreness is only slightly influenced by the increase of the temporal distance from wakefulness in both REM and NREM reports. Only Sleep Onset dreams were significantly different (a lower degree of bizarreness) in comparison with the others reports, as if bizarre elements could be present in a constant way only when the Sleep Onset process is concluded.