Consciousness and abilities of dream characters observed during lucid dreaming.

In lucid dreams, dream characters can perform complex cognitive tasks such as drawing, writing, naming unknown words, finding rhymes, making verses, and solving arithmetic problems, though arithmetic performance was poor. Nine male experienced lucid dreamers instructed dream characters to complete these tasks, and some succeeded. These findings do not contradict the idea that dream characters have consciousness in a specific sense. The authors conclude that in lucid dream therapy, communication with dream characters should be treated as if they were rational beings. Psychophysiological experiments could further investigate whether dream characters possess consciousness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

A description of several phenomenological experiments is given. These were done to investigate of which cognitive accomplishments dream characters are capable in lucid dreams. Nine male experienced lucid dreamers participated as subjects. They were directed to set different tasks to dream characters they met while lucid dreaming. Dream characters were asked to draw or write, to name unknown words, to find rhyme words, to make verses, and to solve arithmetic problems. Part of the dream characters actually agreed to perform the tasks and were successful, although the arithmetic accomplishments were poor. From the phenomenological findings, nothing contradicts the assumption that dream characters have consciousness in a specific sense. Herefrom the conclusion was drawn, that in lucid dream therapy communication with dream characters should be handled as if they were rational beings. Finally, several possibilities of assessing the question, whether dream characters possess consciousness, can be examined with the aid of psychophysiological experiments.