SLEEP Advances
July 8, 2026
Emma Peters, Xinlin Wang, Johanna Heitmann et al.
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...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
May 22, 2026
Somayeh Ataei, Mahdad Jafarzade Esfahani, Nikolai Axmacher et al.
Abstract Dream recall varies substantially both between individuals and from night to night within the same individual. Although nocturnal awakenings are thought to facilitate the encoding and later retrieval of dream experiences, it remains unclear whether dream recall is shaped primarily by awakening frequency or by more specific awakening characteristics, including duration, sleep stage, and...
Consciousness and Cognition
April 13, 2026
Xinlin Wang, Emma Peters, Johannes Strelen et al.
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...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
March 13, 2026
Emma Peters, Xinlin Wang, Kathrin Fischer et al.
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...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
March 12, 2026
Emma Peters, Johanna Heitmann, Nicolas Morath et al.
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...
Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
2026
Emma Peters, Xinlin Wang, Johanna Elisabeth Heitmann et al.
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...
Nature Communications
August 13, 2025
William Wong, Rubén Herzog, Kátia Cristine Andrade et al.
10 citations
Magneto/electroencephalography (M/EEG) studies of dreaming are an essential paradigm in the investigation of neurocognitive processes of human consciousness during sleep, but they are limited by the number of observations that can be collected per study. Dream research also involves substantial methodological and conceptual variability, which poses problems for the integration of results. To...
Inflammatory bowel diseases
July 14, 2025
Milou M Ter Avest, Marloes J. Huijbers, Carmen S Horjus et al.
6 citations
Many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) suffer from psychological distress, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and a reduced quality of life-even during remission. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been effective in other populations, and therefore it may also benefit IBD patients. The primary objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of MBCT plus treatment as usual (TAU)...
Conference on Designing Interactive Systems
July 4, 2025
P. Wang, X. Fang, Gabriel Ducos et al.
Lucid dreaming, a state in which people become aware that they are dreaming, is known for its many mental and physical health benefits. However, most lucid dream induction techniques, such as reality testing, require significant time and effort to master, creating a barrier for people seeking these experiences. We designed LuciEntry, a portable interactive prototype aimed at helping people...
The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
May 14, 2025
Çağatay Demirel, Jarrod Gott, Kristoffer Appel et al.
8 citations
Lucid dreaming (LD) is a state of conscious awareness of the ongoing oneiric state, predominantly linked to REM sleep. Progress in understanding its neurobiological basis has been hindered by small sample sizes, diverse EEG setups, and artifacts like saccadic eye movements. To address these challenges in characterizing the electrophysiological correlates of LD, we introduced an adaptive...
Neurosci Biobehav Rev
January 14, 2025
Sofia Tzioridou, Teresa Campillo-Ferrer, Jorge Cañas-Martín et al.
5 citations
During most dreams, the dreamer does not realize that they are in a dream. In contrast, lucid dreaming allows to become aware of the current state of mind, often accompanied by considerable control over the ongoing dream episode. Lucid dreams can happen spontaneously or be induced through diverse behavioural, cognitive or technological strategies. Such induction techniques have spurred research...
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
August 1, 2024
Teresa Campillo-Ferrer, Adriana Alcaraz-Sánchez, Ema Demšar et al.
14 citations
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are characterized by the subjective experience of being located outside the physical body. Little is known about the neurophysiology of spontaneous OBEs, which are often reported by healthy individuals as occurring during states of reduced vigilance, particularly in proximity to or during sleep (sleep-related OBEs). In this paper, we review the current state of...
Neuron
April 3, 2024
Paul Zerr, Nico Adelhöfer, Martin Dresler
Lucid dreaming allows conscious awareness and control of vivid dream states; however, its rarity and instability make neuroscientific experimentation challenging. Recent advances in wearable neurotechnology, large-scale collaborations, citizen neuroscience, and artificial intelligence increasingly facilitate the decoding of this intriguing phenomenon.
Current Issues in Sport Science
February 7, 2024
Emma Peters, Xinlin Wang, Martin Dresler et al.
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...
Consciousness and Cognition
2024
Jarrod Gott, Sina Stücker, Philipp Kanske et al.
22 citations
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter and neuromodulator involved in a variety of cognitive functions. Additionally, acetylcholine is involved in the regulation of REM sleep: cholinergic neurons in the brainstem and basal forebrain project to and innervate wide areas of the cerebral cortex, and reciprocally interact with other neuromodulatory systems, to produce the sleep-wake cycle and different...
SoftwareX
December 1, 2023
Mahdad Jafarzadeh Esfahani, Amir Hossein Daraie, Paul Zerr et al.
We introduce Dreamento (Dream engineering toolbox), an open-source Python package for dream engineering using sleep electroencephalography (EEG) wearables. Dreamento main functions are (1) recording, real-time monitoring, analysis, and sensory stimulation, and (2) offline post-processing of the resulting data, both in a graphical user interface. In real-time, Dreamento is capable of (1) data...
May 16, 2023
William Wong, Kátia C. Andrade, Thomas Andrillon et al.
21 citations
preprint
Magneto/electroencephalography (M/EEG) studies of dreaming are an essential paradigm in the investigation of neurocognitive processes of human consciousness during sleep, but they are limited by the number of observations that can be collected per study. Dream research also involves substantial methodological and conceptual variability, which poses problems for the integration of results. To...
Medical Hypotheses
March 27, 2023
Emma Peters, Sanne Golembiewski, Daniel Erlacher et al.
12 citations
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....
March 6, 2023
Claudia Picard-Deland, Giulio Bernardi, Lisa Genzel et al.
2 citations
preprint
Newly encoded memory traces are spontaneously reactivated during sleep. Since their discovery in the 1990s, these memory reactivations have been discussed as a potential neural basis for dream experiences. New results from animal and human research, as well as the rapidly growing field of sleep and dream engineering, provide essential insights into this question, revealing both strong parallels...
Scientific Reports
September 21, 2022
Sofia Tzioridou, Martin Dresler, Kristian Sandberg et al.
10 citations
A theoretical and empirical association between lucid dreaming and mindfulness, as well as lucid dreaming and nightmares has previously been observed; however, the relationship between nightmares and mindfulness has received surprisingly little attention. Here, we present the findings of two studies exploring the relation of nightmare frequency and distress with two components of mindfulness,...
Current biology : CB
April 12, 2021
Karen R Konkoly, Kristoffer Appel, Emma Chabani et al.
126 citations
Dreams take us to a different reality, a hallucinatory world that feels as real as any waking experience. These often-bizarre episodes are emblematic of human sleep but have yet to be adequately explained. Retrospective dream reports are subject to distortion and forgetting, presenting a fundamental challenge for neuroscientific studies of dreaming. Here we show that individuals who are asleep...
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
February 1, 2021
Jarrod Gott, Leonore Bovy, Emma Peters et al.
33 citations
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,...
Consciousness and Cognition
September 1, 2020
Jarrod Gott, Michael Rak, Leonore Bovy et al.
23 citations
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...
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
March 14, 2019
Benjamin Baird, Sérgio Mota-Rolim, Martin Dresler
196 citations
Lucid dreaming refers to the phenomenon of becoming aware of the fact that one is dreaming during ongoing sleep. Despite having been physiologically validated for decades, the neurobiology of lucid dreaming is still incompletely characterized. Here we review the neuroscientific literature on lucid dreaming, including electroencephalographic, neuroimaging, brain lesion, pharmacological and brain...
Handbook of Sleep Research
2019
Benjamin Baird, Daniel Erlacher, Michael Czisch et al.
Abstract Conscious experience varies considerably, not only between wakefulness and sleep but also within sleep. Consciousness during sleep can be rich and vivid in its perceptual content but is typically poor in self-reflective consciousness/meta-consciousness. A notable exception is lucid dreaming: the phenomenon of becoming aware that one is dreaming while continuing to dream during ongoing...