The relationship between the dreamed body and the physical body remains an open question in sleep and dream research. This study examined whether somatosensory stimulation applied during REM sleep modulates the corresponding dream content under controlled conditions. Using a within-subject design, we compared three stimulation modalities-electrical muscular, galvanic vestibular, and haptic...
Abstract During wakefulness, we are used to perceive the environment through our senses, act on it and take these inputs to update our experiences and build the perceptions. When the inputs are not longer accurate or structured, people would sometimes have hallucinatory experiences. Whether such experiences are associated with distinct patterns of thought, and how they relate to large-scale...
Lucid dream control (LDC), the ability to deliberately influence dream experiences during a lucid dream, is central to many theoretical, experimental, and lucid dream clinical applications. Despite its importance, standardized instruments for assessing LDC remain limited, typically treating it as a single, broad construct. This study aimed to develop and provide a preliminary evaluation of the...
Lucid dream control (LDC), the ability to deliberately influence dream experiences during a lucid dream, is central to many theoretical, experimental, and lucid dream clinical applications. Despite its importance, standardized instruments for assessing LDC remain limited, typically treating it as a single, broad construct. This study aimed to develop and validate the Lucid Dream Control...
Abstract Study Objectives Sensory stimulation during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has been proposed as a method to induce lucidity, yet most approaches rely on distal sensory modalities such as light and sound. We explored whether bodily stimulation targeting the muscle and vestibular systems differentially influences dream incorporation and lucid awareness during REM sleep. Methods 28...
Abstract During lucid dreaming, the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming. In past years, numerous studies have explored the characteristics of lucid dreams, which link lucid dreams to vivid visual perception, positive emotions, and wake-like metacognition and executive functions. To determine brain network activity associated with the conscious experience during lucid dreaming, we analyzed...
Abstract Lucid dream (LD) induction using external sensory stimulation has most commonly relied on distal cues such as lights or auditory signals, with mixed success rates. In this study, we investigated whether more direct bodily stimulation targeting the muscle and vestibular systems could influence LD induction. We compared electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) and galvanic vestibular...
Abstract Lucid dreaming (LD), during which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming, is frequently induced in laboratory settings by delivering sensory cues during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. These cues should be incorporated into ongoing dreams and can trigger reflective awareness. This approach relies on the continuity between waking experiences and dream content. In sleep...
STUDY OBJECTIVES: Sensory stimulation during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has been proposed as a method to induce lucidity, yet most approaches rely on distal sensory modalities such as light and sound. We explored whether bodily stimulation targeting the muscle and vestibular systems differentially influences dream incorporation and lucid awareness during REM sleep. METHODS: 28 participants...
This dissertation maps the bridge between the physical and dreamed body. I examine how physiology, sensory stimulation, lucid awareness, and dream control interact during sleep, framing it as a bidirectional dream–body interface (DBI). Across four works — two laboratory studies, a communication proof-of-concept, and an integrative review — I map how external signals enter dreams, how these...
Lucid dreaming (LD), during which the dreamer becomes aware of the dream state, offers a unique opportunity for a variety of applications, including motor practice, personal well-being, and nightmare therapy. However, these applications largely depend on the dreamer's ability to control their dreams. While LD research has traditionally focused on induction techniques to increase dream...
Lucid dreaming (LD), during which the dreamer becomes aware of the dream state, offers a unique opportunity for a variety of applications, including motor practice, personal well-being, and nightmare therapy. However, these applications largely depend on a dreamer's ability to control their dreams. While LD research has traditionally focused on induction techniques to increase dream frequency,...
Lucid dreaming occurs when one is aware of dreaming while asleep. While lucid dreaming can occur spontaneously, it remains rare. This multi-center study (Netherlands, Italy, Canada) tested a combined induction approach integrating senses-initiated lucid dreaming (SSILD) with targeted lucidity reactivation in a large sample of participants with varying lucid dreaming experience. Sixty...
Introduction Lucid dreaming opens the possibility to rehearse sport skills within a dream while sleeping (Peters et al. 2023; Stumbrys et al. 2016). But so far, no induction techniques have been developed to induce reliable lucid dreams. One potential technique is to apply external stimulation while a person is sleeping in order to send a hint into the dream which might enhance lucidity in the...
AbstractThis study aimed to investigate the efficacy of using hypnotic enhancement of auditory suggestion to induce lucid dreams in inexperienced individuals. Lucid dreaming, a state in which the dreamer becomes aware of their dream state, provides opportunities for personal exploration, sports, and clinical applications. However, the rarity of lucid dreams poses a challenge to scientific...
Improving motor performance without physical movements might seem counterintuitive, however, decades of research on mental practice have demonstrated its feasibility. The phenomenon of lucid dreaming – i.e. becoming aware of the current dream state during ongoing sleep – bears some resemblance to mental practice: behaviors such as motor tasks can be intentionally simulated with mental imagery....
Metacognitive reflections on one's current state of mind are largely absent during dreaming. Lucid dreaming as the exception to this rule is a rare phenomenon; however, its occurrence can be facilitated through cognitive training. A central idea of respective training strategies is to regularly question one's phenomenal experience: is the currently experienced world real, or just a dream? Here,...
Lucid dreaming-the phenomenon of experiencing waking levels of self-reflection within one's dreams-is associated with more wake-like levels of neural activation in prefrontal brain regions. In addition, alternating periods of wakefulness and sleep might increase the likelihood of experiencing a lucid dream. Here we investigate the association between sleep fragmentation and lucid dreaming, with...
Lucid dreaming (LD) is the phenomenon during which dreamers are aware they are dreaming and may be able to influence dream content. Dream manipulation, or dream control, plays a critical role in the applications of LD across both clinical and non-clinical domains and may be a key determinant of therapeutic success. However, not all lucid dreamers are able to effectively influence their dreams,...