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The future of dream science.

Kelly Bulkeley

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences October 1, 2017 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13415 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Peer reviewed
Topics Dreaming Lucid dreaming
Keywords Rem sleep Dream analysis Dream science
Key points Three promising frontiers for dream research are neuroscientific studies of brain-mind activity during sleep, systematic analysis of large dream report collections, and psychotherapeutic exploration of dream meaning.

Abstract

This article describes the future prospects of scientific dream research. Three frontiers of investigation hold special promise: neuroscientific studies of the brain-mind system's activities during sleep (such as during lucid dreaming); systematic analyses of large collections of dream reports from diverse populations of people; and psychotherapeutic explorations of the multiple dimensions of personal and collective meaning woven into the dream experiences of each individual. Several helpful books on the science of sleep and dreaming are mentioned for further study.

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