Current biology : CB
April 12, 2021
Karen R Konkoly, Kristoffer Appel, Emma Chabani et al.
126 citations
People who are asleep and having a lucid dream—aware that they are dreaming—can perceive questions from an experimenter and answer them in real time using eye movements and facial muscle contractions. In a study of 36 individuals during REM sleep, including frequent lucid dreamers, a novice, and a patient with narcolepsy, participants performed perceptual analysis of new information, held information in working memory, computed simple answers, and gave volitional replies. Correct answers occurred on 29 occasions across 6 individuals, documented by four independent laboratories. This two-way communication channel allows real-time interrogation of dream cognition and characteristics.
Consciousness and Cognition
August 1, 2020
Abigail Stocks, Michelle Carr, Remington Mallett et al.
33 citations
Higher levels of lucidity during dreaming are associated with more positive dream content and a more positive mood the following day. Twenty participants completed a week-long online dream diary after practicing lucid dream induction techniques. The study found no link between lucidity and subjective sleep quality. The findings suggest that cultivating lucid dreams may help improve waking mood, though longer-term studies are needed.
Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society
January 1, 2022
Remington Mallett, Laura Sowin, Rachel Raider et al.
22 citations
Lucid dreams can end nightmares and prevent their recurrence, but they can also induce harrowing dysphoric dreams. The realization of dreaming (lucidity) and dreams with high control were both associated with positive experiences. Negative outcomes primarily result from failed induction attempts or lucid dreams with low dream control; successfully inducing high-control lucid dreams poses low risk for negative outcomes. A process model describes the progression from lucid dream induction to waking benefit, identifying potential areas of concern. The findings provide new insights into possible negative repercussions and how to avoid them in future applications.
May 16, 2023
William Wong, Kátia C. Andrade, Thomas Andrillon et al.
21 citations
preprint
A new open-access database, DREAM, combines sleep magneto/electroencephalography (M/EEG) recordings with standardized dream reports to enable large-scale neurocognitive research on dreaming. The initial release includes 20 datasets from 561 participants and 2649 awakenings, each with at least 20 seconds of high-frequency M/EEG data and a classification of the subject's experience. Analyses demonstrate that features extracted from EEG can predict whether a person reports having had a conscious experience during both REM and NREM sleep. The database aims to overcome the limitations of small sample sizes and methodological variability in dream research, allowing new questions to be addressed at a scale unattainable by individual labs.
Nature Communications
August 13, 2025
William Wong, Rubén Herzog, Kátia Cristine Andrade et al.
10 citations
A new open database, the DREAM database, combines standardized sleep magneto/electroencephalography (M/EEG) recordings with dream reports from 505 participants across 20 datasets, totaling 2,643 awakenings. Each awakening includes at least 20 seconds of high-resolution sleep EEG (≥100 Hz, ≥2 electrodes) and a classification of the sleeper's reported experience. Analyses showed that reports of conscious experiences during sleep can be predicted from objective EEG features in both REM and NREM sleep. The database aims to overcome limitations of small sample sizes and methodological variability in dream research, enabling larger-scale investigations of the neurocognitive basis of dreaming.
Journal of Sleep Research
June 1, 2025
Jennifer M Mundt, Kristi E. Pruiksma, Karen R Konkoly et al.
7 citations
A small trial tested cognitive behavioral therapy for nightmares (CBT-N), adapted for people with narcolepsy, with or without targeted lucidity reactivation (TLR) to enhance lucid dreaming. Six adults who had frequent nightmares (at least 3 per week) received seven treatment sessions. Nightmare frequency dropped from an average of 8.38 per week to 2.25 per week, a large improvement. Nightmare severity and symptoms such as sleep paralysis, hallucinations, and dream enactment also improved. The three participants who received TLR all recalled dreams related to their rescripted nightmare. Participants reported reduced shame and anxiety about sleep and nightmares. The findings offer preliminary evidence that CBT-N and TLR may help manage narcolepsy-related nightmares.
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences
April 15, 2021
Remington Mallett, Michelle Carr, Martin Freegard et al.
7 citations
Lucid dreaming—being aware that one is dreaming—occurs on a spectrum rather than as an all-or-nothing state. Participants used mnemonic training methods at home for one week and rated their dream awareness on a 5-point scale each morning. About half reported at least one lucid dream, and about half of all dreams included some lucidity, but success rates varied with the minimum criteria used. The amount of mnemonic rehearsal during a brief early awake period predicted lucidity level. Lucidity levels correlated positively with dream control, dream bizarreness, and next-morning positive affect. Qualitative analysis of 'semi-lucid' dreams (intermediate ratings) explored why participants chose those levels, highlighting methodological implications for lucid dreaming research.
Consciousness and Cognition
October 1, 2024
Karen R Konkoly, Nathan W Whitmore, Remington Mallett et al.
4 citations
A smartphone-based procedure called Targeted Lucidity Reactivation (TLR) can increase lucid dreaming without requiring laboratory equipment. In two experiments, participants reported more lucid dreams when they received sounds during REM sleep that they had heard during pre-sleep training, compared to a prior week without TLR or to blinded control procedures on alternate nights. The findings indicate that the sounds strengthen a link formed during training between the cues and a mindset of carefully analyzing one's current experience, which carries into dreams and boosts lucidity.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
September 30, 2025
Karen R Konkoly, Saba Al-Youssef, Christopher Y Mazurek et al.
3 citations
Alpha oscillations, a hallmark of waking visual perception when eyes close, do not reliably increase during lucid dreams when dreamers signal that their dream-eyes are closed. In 150 signals from 11 lucid dreamers, dream-eye closure was associated with fading visual content only about half the time. In three participants where visual content presence versus absence could be compared, increased alpha power accompanied momentary lack of visual content. Real-time reporting via sniffing patterns enables dynamic investigation of dream perception.
Neuroscience of Consciousness
January 1, 2025
Daniel J Morris, D Blaise Elliott, S Gabriela Torres-Platas et al.
3 citations
Combining virtual reality (VR) with lucid dreaming—awareness during a dream—can produce immersive experiences that may deepen effects from VR alone. In a small pilot study, four frequent lucid dreamers experienced a VR simulation called Ripple, which prior research found reduces self-other boundaries and enhances feelings of interconnectedness. After two VR sessions, sounds from Ripple were played during REM sleep. Three participants had lucid dreams about Ripple, and all four reported dream elements from the VR experience. Real-time physiological signals confirmed lucidity and dreaming about the VR content. The findings suggest that lucid dreaming can recapitulate and potentially amplify the psychological impact of prior VR experiences.
Brain Sciences
March 16, 2026
Daniel J Morris, Susana Gabriela Torres-Platas, Karen R Konkoly et al.
1 citation
Lucid dreaming—dreaming while aware that one is dreaming—can be intentionally shaped by combining Tibetan-Buddhist visualization practices with modern dream-engineering techniques. In an exploratory sleep-laboratory study, five participants spent seven overnight sessions with polysomnographic monitoring and auditory reminders to visualize Chenrezig, a Buddhist embodiment of compassion, during REM sleep. Two participants reported lucid dreams: a frequent lucid dreamer without prior Tibetan-Buddhist training experienced a lucid dream that included a visualization of Chenrezig after auditory cueing, and a monastic participant with no prior lucid dreaming history reported their first-ever lucid dream the night after their session. The findings suggest that dream content can be deliberately influenced through this integrated approach.
Frontiers in Sleep
June 24, 2026
Adam Haar Horowitz, Karen R Konkoly, Michelle Carr et al.
A pilot study tested whether targeted dream incubation (TDI) at sleep onset can direct dream content into subsequent REM sleep. Eleven participants received verbal prompts about a tree and were awakened serially at sleep onset, then during a daytime nap. All 11 successfully incubated the target theme at sleep onset. Of the eight who entered REM sleep, four (50%) incorporated the tree into their first REM dream, and five (63%) did so in later REM dreams. Results suggest TDI may influence REM dream content, offering a method to explore how dream generation and function may be continuous or differ across sleep stages.
Sleep
May 1, 2026
Westley Youngren, Victoria West Staples, Emma Angle et al.
A single 90-minute session of Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI), which involves giving auditory cues to shape dream content, increased dream self-efficacy (DSE) immediately after and one week later in both a non-clinical group and a group with frequent trauma-related nightmares (TRNs). A control nap group showed no change in DSE. Only the non-nightmare TDI group showed significant reductions at one-week follow-up in thoughts of suicide, insomnia, PTSD, and nightmare distress. The results suggest TDI may reduce negative outcomes in people with TRNs, potentially through increased DSE, and justify larger-scale investigation.
June 20, 2025
Daniel J Morris, Blaise Elliott, Susana G. Torres‐platas et al.
preprint
Combining virtual reality (VR) with lucid dreaming—where a person knows they are dreaming—can create more profound experiences than VR alone. In this study, four frequent lucid dreamers experienced a VR simulation called Ripple, which previously reduced self-other boundaries and enhanced feelings of interconnectedness. Afterward, during REM sleep, sounds from Ripple were played quietly. Three participants had lucid dreams about Ripple, and all four reported dreams containing elements of the VR experience. Lucid dreams were validated in real time via physiological signals. The findings confirm that people can have lucid dreams that recapitulate prior VR experiences, suggesting a synergistic benefit for immersive exploration.
SLEEPJ
May 1, 2026
Victoria West Staples, W. Youngren, Emma Angle et al.
Lower dream self-efficacy (DSE; the perceived ability to manage or influence dream experiences) and heightened nightmare distress (NM distress) both independently predicted more severe PTSD symptoms and more suicidal thoughts in a trauma-exposed sample of 30 adults. Lower DSE alone predicted greater insomnia severity. The findings suggest that confidence in managing dreams and distress from nightmares contribute separately to posttraumatic outcomes, with dream self-efficacy playing a particular role in sleep disturbances.
Neuroscience of Consciousness
January 1, 2026
Karen R Konkoly, Daniel J Morris, Kaitlyn Hurka et al.
REM-sleep dreaming can be experimentally guided toward specific unsolved problems and improve next-day creative problem-solving. Lucid dreamers who heard soundtracks of unsolved puzzles during REM sleep reported more dreams about those puzzles. In a post-hoc analysis, participants whose dreams were successfully biased by the sound cues solved more of the associated puzzles after waking. The study provides experimental evidence that REM dreams themselves, not just sleep-related memory reactivation, contribute to creative insight, addressing a long-standing gap in dream research that had relied on anecdotal or confounded evidence.
Neuropsychologia
October 10, 2025
Karen R Konkoly, Daniel J Morris, Matthew Cho et al.
Dreams may help reorganize memories overnight, improving what we learn each day, but solid evidence linking dreaming to adaptive memory reorganization has been lacking. Using Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR), where sensory stimulation during sleep influences previously acquired memories, researchers cued specific tasks during REM sleep. Participants performed two tasks associated with distinct sounds before sleep; one sound was played during REM. Dream reports showed more incorporation of elements from the cued task than the uncued task, though both were frequently incorporated. Dreaming of a task was linked with decreased negative valence and increased creativity. This approach offers a promising way to investigate dreaming's influence on memory and cognition.
Conference on Designing Interactive Systems
July 4, 2025
P. Wang, X. Fang, Gabriel Ducos et al.
Lucid dreaming has mental and physical health benefits, but most induction techniques require extensive practice. A portable interactive prototype called LuciEntry was designed to help induce lucid dreaming using timed visual and auditory cues. Lab and field studies were conducted, and interview data revealed three themes. From these findings and design practice, seven considerations were derived to guide future lucid dream systems. The work aims to inspire further research into interactive technologies for altered states of consciousness.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
December 1, 2024
Remington Mallett, Karen R Konkoly, Tore Nielsen et al.
A review of recent interdisciplinary advances that overcome historical methodological barriers in dream research. Three frameworks are described: observable dreaming, using neural decoding and real-time reporting to measure dream content more directly; dream engineering, using targeted stimulation and lucidity to experimentally manipulate dream content; and computational dream analysis, generating and exploring large dream-report databases to identify patterns. These innovations enable systematic observation, engineering, and analysis of dreams, heralding a new era in dream science.
Sleep
April 12, 2023
Claudia Picard-Deland, Karen R Konkoly, Rachel Raider et al.
Dreams incorporate memories from waking life, but this incorporation varies across the night. Twenty healthy adults were awakened repeatedly during early, middle, and late sleep stages (N1, N2, N3, REM) to collect dream reports. Recent memories appeared more often in N1 and REM dreams than in other stages. Distant memories from over a week ago, semantic memories, and anticipated future events remained stable across sleep stages. However, across the night, the balance shifted: late-night dreams in all stages contained fewer recent and more remote memories than earlier dreams. Dreams also repeated similar themes across the night. These results suggest that dream content may reflect sleep-dependent memory consolidation processes.