Three Ss slept with their eyes taped open and their pupils chemically dilated while stages of sleep were monitored by EEG and eye movement recordings. Various objects were illuminated in front of Ss' open eyes. Shortly following the stimulus presentations, Ss were awakened and reports of dream experiences and other imagery during sleep were obtained. Although there were occasional instances of dream imagery containing light stimulation, there was essentially no evidence for a correspondence between the reported imagery and the specific characteristics of the stimulus objects. The relative functional blindness of sleep fails to support theories stating that dream images are determined by patterns of retinal excitation.
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