Citation

Mullin FJ, Kleitman N, Cooperman NR. J. Exp. Psychol. 1937; 21(1): 88-96.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1937, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/h0056477

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study consists of two parts: the determination of the changes in irritability to auditory stimuli which occur in a dog when it goes to sleep, and the determination of the intensity of auditory stimuli necessary to awaken a human sleeper at various times during the night in relationship to motility. When a dog falls asleep, the threshold for auditory stimuli rises in a characteristic way and shows an S-shaped curve which reaches its maximum about half an hour after the onset of sleep. A similar curve of irritability changes in the human sleeper is obtained when the intensity of the auditory stimulus necessary to awaken the sleeper is plotted against the time after the last movement. Changes in irritability during sleep in the human subject are directly related to the time that has elapsed since the last movement, rather than to the time of night. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)