Lucid Dream Control Questionnaire (LDCQ): development and preliminary evaluation

Abstract

Lucid dream control (LDC), the ability to deliberately influence dream experiences during a lucid dream, is central to many theoretical, experimental, and lucid dream clinical applications. Despite its importance, standardized instruments for assessing LDC remain limited, typically treating it as a single, broad construct. This study aimed to develop and provide a preliminary evaluation of the Lucid Dream Control Questionnaire (LDCQ), an instrument intended to assess seven theoretically derived domains of volitional LDC: Own Cognition, Own Emotion, Own Body, Own Movement, Characters, Environment, and Physics. Psychometric evaluation of the original 38-item version demonstrated good internal consistency across all domains (α = .81–.90), meaningful item-total associations, and a strong positive association with the dream control composite of the Lucid Dreaming Skills Questionnaire (LUSK) (r = .73, p < .001), providing preliminary evidence of convergent validity. In additional exploratory analyses, LDCQ scores were positively associated with lucid dream frequency (r = .63, p < .001) and dream recall frequency (r = .38, p < .001). Quantitative response patterns and qualitative participant feedback further informed questionnaire refinement, resulting in a 36-item instrument. The final scoring framework introduces domain-specific dream control scores and dream engagement scores, allowing characterization of both perceived control ability and breadth of dream control behaviors attempted. An accompanying automated online scoring and visualization tool was also developed to facilitate research and practical application. Overall, the study provides a refined version of the LDCQ together with preliminary estimates of its internal consistency and validity; further research is needed to obtain more extensive and conclusive psychometric evidence.