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Using Real-time Reporting to Investigate Visual Experiences in Dreams

Karen R Konkoly, Saba Al-Youssef, Christopher Y Mazurek, Remington Mallett, Daniel J Morris, Ana Gales, Isabelle Arnulf, Delphine Oudiette, Ken A Paller

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience September 30, 2025 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.a.107 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational study Peer reviewed
Sample size 13
Population People who experience lucid dreams (4 with narcolepsy, 9 without)
Topics Lucid dreaming
Keywords Sniffing Efference copy Eye movement Content measure theory Preconscious Association psychology Cognitive psychology Electroencephalography Recall Developmental psychology Neural activity Visual perception Perspective graphical
Citations 3
Key findings Robust increases in alpha power were not found after signaled dream-eye closure, and dream-eye closure was associated with fading visual content only about half the time.

Abstract

Neuroscientific investigations of human dreaming have been hampered by reliance on dream recall after awakening. For example, a challenge of associating EEG features with post-waking dream reports is that they are subject to distortion, forgetting, and poor temporal precision. In this study, we used real-time reporting to investigate whether one of the most robust features of the waking visual system, increased alpha oscillations upon closing one's eyes, also applies when people dream of closing their eyes. We studied 13 people, four with narcolepsy and nine without, who experienced many lucid dreams-they were aware they were dreaming while remaining asleep. They reported on both their dream experiences (visual percepts present/absent) and dream-eyelid status (open/closed) using a novel communication technique; they produced distinctive sniffing patterns according to presleep instructions. We observed these signals in respiration recordings from a nasal cannula. These physiological signals enabled analyses of time-locked neural activity during REM sleep. We recorded 150 signals over 19 sessions from 11 individuals. Robust increases in alpha power were not found after signaled dream-eye closure. Remarkably, the experience of eye closure while dreaming was associated with fading visual content only about half the time. Comparing the presence versus absence of visual content was possible only in three participants, who showed increased alpha power in association with a momentary lack of visual content. Enlisting dreamers to actively control and report on ongoing dream experiences in this way thus opens new avenues for dynamic investigations of dreams-the illusory perceptions that haunt our sleep.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on lucid dreaming, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Lucid Dreaming: a State of Consciousness with Features of Both Waking and Non-Lucid Dreaming Student volunteers trained to become lucid and signal lucidity with horizontal eye... 2009 Observational study n = 6
Neural Correlates of Dream Lucidity Obtained from Contrasting Lucid versus Non-Lucid REM Sleep: A Combined EEG/fMRI Case Study Experienced lucid dreamers 2012 Observational cohort n = 4
Real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. Individuals during REM sleep, including frequent lucid dreamers, a novice, and a... 2021 Observational study n = 36
Lucid Dreaming in Narcolepsy Consecutive patients with narcolepsy and healthy controls 2015 Case-control study n = 106
Metacognitive Mechanisms Underlying Lucid Dreaming Human participants split into high- and low-lucidity groups based on reported dream... 2015 Observational cohort

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