20 subjects viewed an emotionally arousing video and then recorded the
ir dreams at home for seven nights. Dreams were subsequently rated for
the likelihood that some aspect of the video had been incorporated. F
or subjects who showed strong evidence of incorporation, mean likeliho
od of incorporation ratings followed a U-shaped pattern, with signific
antly higher scores on Nights 1, 6, and 7 than on Night 4. The similar
ity of this temporal pattern with REM sleep patterns observed in rats
exposed to various learning experiences is noted, and the role of the
hippocampus as a possible neural mechanism for delayed incorporations
is discussed.