In the Sleep Physiology Laboratory of the Department of Psychiatry at Montefiore Hospital under the directorship of Dr. Howard P. Roffwarg, a wide range of studies are underway in the physiology and phschophysiology of sleep. We use the standard electrophysiological recording techniques for electroencephalography, electromyography, eye movement activity and subcortical implantation in our animal work. Depending on the study, however, we may be interested as well in measuring levels of plasma hormones, middle ear muscle activity, automonic variables,and discrete directional eye activity. Our primary interests have been in experimentally demonstrating that the mechanisms underlying dreaming allow a reenactment "from within" of the integrated mind-body and perceptual-motor phenomenon. Another series of studies has been devoted to isolating the essential factors in the selection and transformation by the CNS of perceptual material from memory stores into dream imagery. Developmental aspects of sleep have been another important area of concern. We have been exploring the relationship of sleep in the fetus and neonate to maternal sleep, as well as attempting to establish the relative importance of the sleep stages in the infant. We have become interested in the secretory patterns of certain important hormones such as cortisol and growth hormones, which are under precise CNS regulation, in relationship to the stages of sleep.