Content-specific and temporally evolving neural correlates of dream experiences
Vincent Rochas, Kevin Mammeri, Laurence Bayer et al. preprint
Having a conscious experience with recall during N2 sleep is linked to increased beta/gamma brain activity across widespread cortical areas, with peak activity in posterior occipital-temporal regions in the 30-second window before awakening and in parietal regions in the 20-second window. This effect was significant for high-perceptual dreams but not for low-perceptual dreams, suggesting that the neural activity is driven by sensory experiences such as vision and audition. The findings emphasize the need to distinguish content-specific neural correlates of dreaming and to study their temporal dynamics.