The twitcing eye : REM sleep and the emotional brain
Name
827225750-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
2.78 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
9c258738057a88d856656c2e9552c3f2
Author(s)
Beck, Taylor McGowin
Advisor(s)
Seth Mnookin.
Alternative Title
Twitching eye : rapid eye movement sleep and the emotional brain
REM Sleep and the emotional brain
Date Issued
2012
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Sleep and emotion have been linked since the discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep sixty years ago. Sleep, in particular REM sleep and the dreams it harbors, seems to modulate mood, restoring stability to the weary mind. Scientists have struggled to understand this link through the biological study of the brain, the psychological study of dreaming, and the clinical study of how sleep is affected by psychiatric illness. This thesis examines the history of sleep research in terms of its relationship to emotional processing, both from the physiological and the psychological perspective. We are introduced to the scientists who discovered REM in 1953, to those who tracked the links between the biochemistry of mood and of sleep, and to contemporary researchers who are exploring the link between sleep and mood using brain-scanners and electrodes to study the dreaming brain, and the sleep and dreaming of patients with mood disorders. On our journey we will experience both the progress sleep research has made this century, and the enduring mystery of why humans sleep and dream.
Description
Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2012.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 43-47).
Subjects
Graduate Program in Science Writing.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing
MIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies
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