The neuroscience of lucid dreaming: Past, present, future.

Lucid dreaming, a state in which a person becomes aware they are dreaming and can sometimes control the dream, is both rare and hard to study because the state is unstable. New developments in wearable brain-monitoring devices, large research partnerships, citizen science projects, and artificial intelligence are making it easier to decode what happens in the brain during lucid dreams.

Study at a glance

Abstract

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.