Biological approach details-

Aim:

Canli: to investigate whether an area called the amygdala is sensitive to different levels of
intensity to emotions based on subjective emotional experiences

-to investigate whether the degree of emotional intensity affects the role of the amygdala in
aiding memory recall of stimuli classed as being “emotional”

-to show that emotive images will be remembered better than those that have little emotional
impact on an individual

Dement Kleitman: to investigate dreaming in an objective way by looking for relationships

between eye movements in sleep and the dreamers recall

-to test whether dream recall differs between REM and nREM sleep

-to investigate whether there is a positive correlation between subjective estimates of dream
duration and the length of the REM period

-to test whether eye-movement patterns are related to dream content

-to see if the physiological aspects of REM sleep role to participants experiences of dreaming

Schachter and singer: investigate the role of cognitive factors have in the experience of
emotions when we are in a state of physiological arousal that has no immediate explanation

-when we do have an appropriate explanation for feeling a certain emotion to see whether we
always label it as the most appropriate emotion

-to see whether a person will react emotionally to a certain situation based on his or her
physiology even if the cognitive elements of the situation remain the same

Hypotheses:

Canli: when amygdala is activated in response to emotional stimuli memories of those

emotional stimuli will tend to be stranger?

-is the amygdala sensitive to varying degrees of individually experienced emotional intensifies?
Dement Kleitman: there will be a significant association between REM sleep and dreaming

-there is significant positive correlation between the estimate of time spent dreaming and the
measurement of REM sleep

-there is an association between the pattern of eye movement and reported content of the
dream

Schachter and Singer: if an individual experiences physiological arousal with no immediate

explanation, he will label the state and describe it in terms of the cognitions available

-if an individual experiences physiological arousal for which he/she has a completely
appropriate explanation, he/she will label this state accordingly

-given the same circumstances an individual will react emotionally or describe his/her feelings
as emotions only if he/she has physiological arousal

Variables:

Canli: -IV: intensity rating of stimuli (0-3)

-DV: FMRI measures of the amygdala activation and memory of the scene (identify them 3
weeks later)

Dement and Kleitman: -IV: REM or nREM sleep

-waking up after 5 or 15 minutes

-eye movement pattern type

-DV: whether a dream was reported and if so the detail

-participants choose 5 or 15 minutes

-the report of dream content

Schachter and singer: -IV: the knowledge of the injection if they informed, misinformed,
ignorant

-was the emotional situation the participant was out into following the injection either euphoric
or anger
-DV: measures of pulse rate, self rating of side effects and behaviors seen during observation
stage (self-report, questionnaire)

Research design:

Canli: repeated measures design

Dement and Kleitman: repeated measures design

Schachter and singer: independent groups design

Research method:

Canli: lab experiment

Dement and Kleitman: quasi collected observation (IV occurred naturally, some variables were
regulated by the researcher, observed the direction of REM), lab experiment

Schachter and singer: lab experiment

Sample:

Canli: 10 right handed females

Dement and Kleitman: 7 males, 2 females, university of Chicago, 5 intensely investigated for 6-
17 nights, 4 investigated to confirm the findings for 1-2 nights

Schachter and singer: 185 male participants, introductory psychology at the uni of Minnesota
(1 participant withdrew) (11 participants were sus) (5 had no physiological reaction to the
injection of epinephrine) (169 participants data left)

Sampling method:

Canli: volunteer sampling

Dement and Kleitman: opportunity sampling

Schachter and singer: sampling volunteer and opportunity

Materials:

Canli: FMRI, projector showing the images, button for the arousal scale

Dement and Kleitman: EEG machine (to measure sleep), electrodes (gathered at the
participant’s head into a pony tail, EEG), doorbell (used to wake participants), tape recorder (to
record what the participants were dreaming about), sleep laboratory, EOG (electrodes attached
near the eyes to measure eye movement)

Schachter and singer: private rooms, suproxin,

-euphoria: paper, folders, hula hoop etc

-anger: ambiguous questionnaire

Data types:

Canli: Quantitative- collected from FMRI, participants rating the images (correlation between
activation and the emotional intensity of the left amygdala’s memory)

Dement and Kleitman: H1: Quantitative (measured EEG patterns in REM and nREM sleep

H2: Quantitative (EEG patterns in REM sleep and p’s estimated time of dreaming), closed
question (5 or 15 minutes)

H3: data on dream content, open question

Schachter and singer: Quantitative- coded behaviors from the observation, self report scales
used to measure emotions

Qualitative- two open ended questions about other experiences during the course of the tasks

Conclusions:

Canli: the amygdala is sensitive to individually experienced emotional intensity of visual scenes
-the activity in the left amygdala during encoding can predict subsequent memory -the degree
to which the amygdala activation at encoding can predict subsequent memory is a function of
emotional intensity –amygdala reflects moment to moment subject emotional experiences –the
levels of arousal a person is under could affect the strength of a memory trace (the memory
trace will be more robust) –the higher the valance a picture has the more likely it will be
remembered
Dement and Kleitman: dreams probably occur only during REM sleep

-dreams reported when woken from nREM sleep are ones from previous REM episodes

-REM phase are longer later in the night, dreaming is more likely at this time

-people do dream in real time

-eye movements are closely related to dream content

Schachter and singer: our physiological arousal or state and the info or cognitions that help us
to understand the behavior we feel. (Interact and make us feel different emotions depending
on the info available to help us understand the situation we find ourselves in)