Combining presleep cognitive training and REM-sleep stimulation in a laboratory morning nap for lucid dream induction.

Abstract

Previous experiments combining cognitive techniques and sleep disruption have been relatively successful in inducing at-home lucid dreams over training periods of 1-week or more. Here, we induce lucid dreams in a single laboratory nap session by pairing cognitive training with external stimulation. Participants came to the laboratory at 7:30 am or 11:00 am and during polysomnography setup were provided with information about lucid dreaming. For twenty minutes prior to sleep the experimenter played alternating audio and visual cues at 1minute intervals. Participants were instructed to practice a mental state of critical selfawareness, observing their thoughts and experiences each time they noticed a cue. This procedure associated the cues with the trained mental state. Subsequently, participants were allowed 90 minutes to nap, and the audio and visual cues were represented during REM sleep to activate self-awareness in dreams and elicit lucidity. A control group followed the same procedure but was not cued during sleep. All participants were instructed to signal their lucidity by looking left and right four times (LR Signal). Signal-verified lucid dreams (SVLDs) qualified as dreams in which the LR signal was observed and the participant reported becoming lucid. Across the two nap times, this protocol induced SVLDs in 50% of participants. In the absence of cueing during sleep, participant SVLD rate was 17%. Of note, three successful participants had never before experienced a lucid dream, suggesting this protocol may be effective across the general population. Implications of this Targeted Lucidity Reactivation protocol for nightmare treatment are discussed.

Frontal Brain Activity and Subjective Arousal During Emotional Picture Viewing in Nightmare Sufferers

“…Our questionnaire measures showed that in fact nightmare participants scored higher on the Highly Sensitive Person Scale. This is in line with a prior finding that nightmare sufferers are more highly sensitive than control subjects ( Carr et al, 2020 ), providing further support to the notion that sensory-processing sensitivity is a trait marker for nightmares.…”

“…Our questionnaire measures showed that in fact nightmare participants scored higher on the Highly Sensitive Person Scale. This is in line with a prior finding that nightmare sufferers are more highly sensitive than control subjects (Carr et al, 2020), providing further support to the notion that sensory-processing sensitivity is a trait marker for nightmares. Analysis of the dream diary ratings showed that nightmare sufferers exhibit significantly more negative emotional intensity, negative body sensations, and distress from their dreams than did control subjects, although the two groups did not differ in the amount of positive emotion, sensations or impact of their dreams.…”

Wake Up, Work on Dreams, Back to Bed and Lucid Dream: A Sleep Laboratory Study

“…Two recent sleep laboratory studies applying an acoustic cue during the induction technique of the WBTB-paradigm might shed some light on the timing issue. In the first study lucid dreams were successfully induced in a single nap session by cueing beeping tones with cognitive training (Carr et al, 2020). The session duration was 20 min and performed in the morning either at 7:30 am or 11:00 am.…”

Dream engineering: Simulating worlds through sensory stimulation

“…Similar sense making is evident in studies of lucid dreams, where audio or visual stimuli become contextualized in the dream environment ( LaBerge & Levitan, 1995 ). For instance, when presented with flashing LED lights one lucid dreamer reports, “I could tell when the red light came on because it got hot and the sun got brighter” ( Carr, Konkoly, Mallett, Edwards, Appel, & Blagrove, 2020 ). In another example, an audio cue was contextualized in the following dream: “I was shopping in a supermarket… I could hear the beeping and it was like I was getting loads of messages on my phone telling me what to buy … things like, ‘buy some biscuits’.…”

“…via DreamLight mask, LaBerge & Levitan, 1995 ). Within a Targeted Lucidity Reactivation (TLR) protocol, audio and visual stimuli are associated with a lucid mind-state prior to sleep, and then re-presented during REM sleep; this technique induced lucid dreams in 50% of participants in a morning nap ( Carr et al, 2020 ). In addition, novel protocols are emerging all the time; for instance, Targeted Dream Incubation creatively combines components of targeted reactivation with intentional incubation at the hypnagogic border between sleep and wake ( Horowitz, Cunningham, Maes, & Stickgold, 2020 ).…”