Light Sleeper, Heavy Dreamer: A Neuroscientific Perspective of Lucid Dreaming
Theoretical and Natural Science March 13, 2025 Boyu Pan
Lucid dreaming—being aware of dreaming during a dream—has been studied for 50 years using polysomnography and fMRI. This review describes distinct neural features of lucid dreaming, including brain electrical activities, activated cortical regions, and related neural substrates. Lucid dreaming is linked to high-level cognitive functions such as metacognition, offering insight into the neural mechanisms of consciousness. Beyond basic research, lucid dreaming has applications in clinical therapy, motor skill training, and human-computer interaction, indicating its potential in neuroscience and everyday life.