REM sleep

rapid-eye-movement sleep: the stage of sleep, formerly called desynchronized sleep, in which most dreaming tends to occur during which electroencephalograms show activity that resembles wakefulness (hence, it is also known as paradoxical sleep) except for inhibition of most skeletal and cranial muscles. This stage has two phases—tonic and phasic—and it is largely during the phasic period that muscle twitches and bursts of rapid eye movements occur. REM sleep accounts for one quarter to one fifth of total sleep time. Compare NREM sleep.

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Psychology term of the day

November 17th 2024

cognitive conditioning

a process in which a stimulus is repeatedly paired with an imagined or anticipated response or behavior. Cognitive conditioning has been used as a therapeutic technique, in which case the stimulus is typically aversive. For example, the client imagines that he or she is smoking a cigarette and gives himself or herself a pinch; the procedure is repeated until the thought produces the effect of discouraging the behavior. See also cognitive rehearsal.