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A research procedure has been described for studying the uniquely personal way in which thoughts and feelings stirred in the waking state are represented in subsequent dreams.
The main feature of this procedure is to have the subject undergo an arousing experience just before he goes to sleep; this presleep event then serves as one reference point or "tracer element" for studying transformations. The presleep event we use consists, on some occasions, of an emotionally charged film; on other occasions (for comparison purposes) a neutral film; and on still other occasions, an encounter with another person through the medium of suggestion. The procedure has several other salient features. By means of a special technique the content of the subject's reverie between the presleep event and the time he falls asleep is obtained. The subject is awakened during all dream periods (identified by the concomitant occurrence of rapid eye movements and Stage-1 EEG) and reports his dreams. Recordings are made of autonomic activity during the presleep event and during sleep. At the end of the sleep session an extended inquiry is conducted into each dream, including associations to the dreams, and into the subject's reactions to the entire experience.