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Standard ambulatory night sleep electroencephalograph (EEG) of 11 long-term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program reporting "higher states of consciousness" during sleep (the experimental group) was compared to that of nine short-term practitioners and 11 non-practitioners. EEG tracings during stages 3 and 4 sleep showed the experimental group to have: 1) theta-alpha activity simultaneously with delta activity and 2) decreased chin electromyograph (EMG) during deep sleep (p = 0.002) compared to short-term practitioners. Spectral analysis fast Fourier transform (FFT) data of the first three cycles showed that: 3) the experimental subjects had significantly greater theta 2 (6-8 Hz)-alpha 1 (8-10 Hz) relative power during stages 3 and 4 than the combined control groups [t(30) = 5.5, p = 0.0000008] with no difference in time in delta; 4) there was a graded difference across groups during stages 3 and 4 in theta 2-alpha 1 power, with experimentals having greater power than short-term practitioners, who in turn had greater power than non-practitioners [t(30) = 5.08, p = 0.00002]; and 5) experimentals also had increased rapid eye movement (REM) density during REM periods compared to short-term practitioners (p = 0.04). Previous studies have found increased theta-alpha EEG activity during reported periods of "transcendental consciousness" during the TM technique. In the Vedic tradition, as described by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, transcendental consciousness is the first of a sequence of higher states. The maintenance of transcendental consciousness along with deep sleep is said to be a distinctive criterion of further, stabilized higher states of consciousness. The findings of this study are interpreted as physiological support for this model.

The improvement of various cognitive skills associated with video game play has been well documented; however, the development of consciousness implications have not been considered. In the present study several potential indicators of consciousness development, including and especially lucid dreaming frequency, were examined as a function of video game play. In the first study, high video game players were more likely to report lucid dreams, observer dreams, and dream control when dream recall frequency and motion disorientation during play were controlled. There were no similar differences in other consciousness development indices. In the second study, a slightly different pattern of results occurred because of respondents all being frequent players.

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as well as control dreams, have recently been reported as associated with video game play (Gackenbach, 2006). In this study, dreams were collected from the morning after a night of rested sleep as well as electronic media use from the day before the dream. In a factor analysis, lucid and control dreams were associated with all electronic media use but most strongly with video game play.

Soldiers who play video games to varying degrees were solicited to fill out a survey on dreams and gaming. A prescreening filtered out those who were not soldiers, who did not game and who were suffering from various psychological problems in the last six months. The remaining soldiers filled out these inventories; general and military demographics, history of video game play, Emotional Reactivity and Numbing Scale (ERNS), and a Trauma Inventory. They were then asked to provide two dreams, one recent and one that was impactful from their military service. Following the military dream they filled out Impactful Dreams Questionnaire (IDQ) about that dream only. Dream content analysis was conducted using threat simulation, war content and lucid/control/gaming content. High and low end frequency gamer groups were identified and compared on these dream content scales. Because the nightmare literature shows that affect load and distress are predictors of nightmare suffering. ERNS and Trauma history were covariates in the ANCOVA's on gamer group x dream type. It was found that the high end gaming group exhibited less threat and war content in their military dreams than the low end group.

In a series of studies, Gackenbach has been mapping the effects of heavy video game play on consciousness including dreaming. The reason that gamers are being investigated is that they represent a group of people who are engaging in the most immersive media experience widely available today. With its audio and visual interactive nature as well as the long hours often required to master a game, they are an opportune group to study media effects upon consciousness. In this study, the focus was on dream bizarreness. Dream bizarreness has been variously thought to be the differentiator between waking and dreaming thought, an indication of creativity, and, most recently, as a model for solving the binding problem in consciousness. Using the Revonsuo and Salmivalli's scale for dream content analysis it was found that high-end gamers evidenced more bizarre dreams than low-end gamers in two of three types of bizarreness categories.