Characteristics of Rem Sleep following Different Conditioned Rates of Waking Eye Movement in the Monkey

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Abstract
Generalization of conditioned rates of waking eye movement to REM sleep was investigated. High and low rates of waking eye movement were conditioned in 4 monkeys, using schedules of fixed-ratio reinforcement (FR6) and discriminated differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL5), with the EOG as the operant. Ss were then run for 6 successive nights on the FR6 schedule and 6 successive nights on the DRL5 schedule prior to falling asleep, with the schedule order counterbalanced for the 4 Ss. The rate of REM and total number of REMs were higher ( p < .001) during longer REM sleep periods ( p < .025) following low rates of waking eye movement than following high rates. Similar effects were absent in a fifth yoked-control S. The results cannot be explained by conventional learning mechanisms; but they are consistent with the hypothesis that REM sleep furnishes periodic innervation of the oculomotor system to maintain facilitation of binocularly coordinated eye movement into subsequent wakefulness.