What is the State-of-the-Art on Lucid Dreaming?
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review |
|---|---|
| Topics | Lucid dreaming Dreaming |
| Keywords | Consciousness Cognitive psychology Electroencephalography Cognitive science Wakefulness |
| Citations | 27 |
| Key findings | Lucid dreaming is a real phenomenon supported by evidence from electrophysiological studies showing a hybrid brain state combining wake-like frontal EEG activity and REM sleep-like posterior activity, with lower gamma band activity necessary for conscious awareness in dreams. |
Abstract
Lucid dreaming may be defined as the conscious awareness that one is dreaming while dreaming. Instead of incorrectly assuming that one is awake, the dreamer gains insight about her or his real state of consciousness. Lucid dreaming is rare and evanescent, which probably accounts for lingering doubts about its veracity and for its marginalization in science. The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence that lucid dreaming is a real phenomenon, including evidence for its occurrence, underlying mechanisms, and scientific value. Based on admittedly still limited but fast-growing empirical evidence, we will introduce four hypotheses centred around lucid dreaming that are deduced from empirical work and that will hopefully have a bearing on future consciousness research. The Brain Maturation Hypothesis (1) relates steps in ontogenetic brain development to the frequency of naturally occurring lucid dreams in children and adults, suggesting that in the immature brain, spontaneous and involuntary lucid dreaming results from accidental and untypical activation of the frontal cortex during REM sleep. The Hybrid State Hypothesis (2) and the Space of Consciousness Model (SoC) (3) build on the electrophysiological peculiarities observed in REM-sleep-induced lucid dreams, showing a wake-like EEG pattern in frontal parts of the brain and an REM sleep-like EEG in posterior areas. The Gamma Band Hypothesis (4) proposes that the same kind of oscillatory activity known to accompany conscious awareness in the awake brain promotes conscious awareness in REM sleep dreams. Finally, we present first experimental evidence that lower gamma band activity is indeed a necessary condition for the elicitation of conscious awareness in dreams. EM
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on lucid dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The cognitive neuroscience of lucid dreaming | 2019 | Review | |
| My Dream, My Rules: Can Lucid Dreaming Treat Nightmares? | 2019 | Review | |
| What about dreams? State of the art and open questions | 2022 | Review | |
| The Dream of God: How Do Religion and Science See Lucid Dreaming and Other Conscious States During Sleep? | 2020 | Review | |
| Insight and Dissociation in Lucid Dreaming and Psychosis | 2018 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cited by 18
- Lucid dreaming incidence: A quality effects meta-analysis of 50 years of research Consciousness and Cognition June 20, 2016
- Aphantasia, imagination and dreaming Philosophical Studies September 18, 2020
- What is a global state of consciousness? Philosophy and the Mind Sciences December 30, 2020
- Insight and Dissociation in Lucid Dreaming and Psychosis Frontiers in Psychology November 12, 2018
- Is There a Link Between Frequency of Dreams, Lucid Dreams, and Subjective Sleep Quality? Frontiers in Psychology 2020
and 13 more in the library
Cites 17
- An information integration theory of consciousness BMC Neuroscience November 2, 2004
- Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Sleep September 1, 2009
- Neural Correlates of Dream Lucidity Obtained from Contrasting Lucid versus Non-Lucid REM Sleep: A Combined EEG/fMRI Case Study Sleep June 29, 2012
- Lucid Dreaming as a Learnable Skill: A Case Study Perceptual and Motor Skills December 1, 1980
- REM Dreaming and Cognitive Skills at Ages 5-8: A Cross-sectional Study International Journal of Behavioral Development December 1, 1990
and 12 more in the library