REM睡眠的最初概念化为矛盾睡眠是基于其类似于清醒的EEG及其与梦的关联。随着时间的推移,悖论的概念被扩展到包括与REM睡眠的各种关联,比如梦想排他性,高召回,和病理生理学。然而,这些关联都不是REM睡眠所独有的;它们也可以发生在其他睡眠状态中。今天,经过五十多年的专注研究,REMS的两个方面显然保留了自相矛盾的排他性。尽管人们一直认为人类REMS的EEG是由唤醒状组成的,低电压,非同步放电,REMS基于5-8Hz的颅内电存在并由其定义。theta,这一直是其他动物REMS的标志。用于在人类多导睡眠图上定义REMS的唤醒状EEG是普遍不存在电生理波形的次要原因,因为颅内θ的强波不会传播到放置在颅骨外的头皮电极。这是一个持续的悖论,即θ频率仅限于周期性的颅内动力学,而该动力学不会超出大脑的衬里。REMS与叙述性较长且显着的梦报告有着持续的联系。然而,这一发现的延伸将REMS等同于做梦,导致了神经科学逻辑中的一个基本错误。尽管有明确的证据表明梦在整个睡眠中以明显不同的生理和现象学形式报道,但主要的理论和临床方法都建立在这种信念之上。很少有研究解决睡眠不同阶段报告的梦之间的差异,以至于今天,REMS梦的最矛盾的方面可能是实际上对状态的研究很少。对睡眠阶段之间梦的差异的评估可以提供有价值的见解,以了解梦与每个阶段发生的潜在大脑活动和生理过程的关系。REMS的脑电波和梦仍然是自相矛盾的独特之处,与清醒和其他睡眠意识状态不同。
The original conceptualization of REM sleep as paradoxical sleep was based on its EEG resembling wakefulness and its association with dreaming. Over time, the concept of paradox was expanded to include various associations with REM sleep, such as dream exclusivity, high recall, and pathophysiology. However, none of these associations are unique to REM sleep; they can also occur in other sleep states. Today, after more than fifty years of focused research, two aspects of REMS clearly retain paradoxical exclusivity. Despite the persistent contention that the EEG of human REMS consists of wake-like, low-voltage, non-synchronous electrical discharges, REMS is based on and defined by the intracranial electrical presence of 5-8 Hz. theta, which has always been the marker of REMS in other animals. The wake-like EEG used to define REMS on human polysomnography is secondary to a generalized absence of electrophysiological waveforms because the strong waves of intracranial theta do not propagate to scalp electrodes placed outside the skull. It is a persistent paradox that the theta frequency is restricted to a cyclical intracranial dynamic that does not extend beyond the lining of the brain. REMS has a persistent association with narratively long and salient dream reports. However, the extension of this finding to equate REMS with dreaming led to a foundational error in neuroscientific logic. Major theories and clinical approaches were built upon this belief despite clear evidence that dreaming is reported throughout sleep in definingly different physiologic and phenomenological forms. Few studies have addressed the differences between the dreams reported from the different stages of sleep so that today, the most paradoxical aspect of REMS dreaming may be how little the state has actually been studied. An assessment of the differences in dreaming between sleep stages could provide valuable insights into how dreaming relates to the underlying brain activity and physiological processes occurring during each stage. The brain waves and dreams of REMS persist as being paradoxically unique and different from waking and the other states of sleep consciousness.