Describe the typical sleep pattern. What type of EEG pattern is seen at each stage?
What will be an ideal response?
Sleep researchers have discovered five different stages of sleep, based on physiological recordings. Each cycle lasts approximately 90 minutes in length, and a typical sleeper will complete multiple cycles each night.
Stage 1 is a brief, transitional stage of light sleep that lasts for as little as a few minutes. The EEG moves from predominately alpha waves, when the person is just about to fall asleep, to more theta activity.
Stage 2 is characterized by more mixed brain-wave activity with brief bursts of higher-frequency brain waves, called sleep spindles.
Stages 3 and 4 are characterized by low-frequency delta waves.
It takes about 30 minutes to reach Stage 4, and usually people stay there for about 30 minutes. Then the cycle reverses. When Stage 1 should be next in line in the cycle, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep begins. In REM sleep, the EEG show beta waves similar to when a person is awake, and most people report vivid dreaming.
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Binet's two major principles of test construction were
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