Inducing signal-verified lucid dreams in 40% of untrained novice lucid dreamers within two nights in a sleep laboratory setting

Lucid dreaming offers the chance to investigate dreams from within a dream and by real-time dialogue between experimenters and dreamers during REM sleep. This state of consciousness opens a new experimental venue for dream research. However, laboratory study in this field is limited due to the rarity of lucid dreamers. In a previous study, we were able to induce in 50% of the participants a lucid dream in a single sleep laboratory night by combining a wake-up-back-to-bed (WBTB) sleep routine and a mnemonic method (Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams, MILD). In three experiments, we tried to replicate our earlier findings while we adapted our procedure in shortening (Exp1–3: 4.5 vs. 6 h of uninterrupted sleep in the first half of the night), simplifying (Exp2: time-based wakening vs. REM wakening in the second half of the night), and applying another induction technique (Exp3: reality testing vs. MILD). In the three conditions, four out of 15 (26%), zero out of 20 (0%), and three out of 15 (20%) participants reported a lucid dream. Compared to the original study, the earlier sleep interruption seems to reduce the lucid dream induction rate. Furthermore, without REM awakenings in the morning, lucid dream induction failed, whereas reality testing showed a lower success rate compared to MILD. Further systematic sleep laboratory studies are needed to develop reliable techniques for lucid dream research.

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“…No lucid dreams were observed in the Wii condition [ 21 ]. Our findings were replicated by another sleep laboratory study [ 22 ].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Combining Wake-Up-Back-to-Bed with Cognitive Induction Techniques: Does Earlier Sleep Interruption Reduce Lucid Dream Induction Rate?

et al. 2022

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“…First, in the majority of the previous studies on lucid dream induction techniques, the effect of WBTB could not be separated from that of MILD, a technique that contains WBTB, as both of them were applied together. Specifically, all the studies adopted WBTB in the last review (Stumbrys et al, 2012) and five of 10 studies applied WBTB in the present review (e.g., Appel et al, 2020; Aspy, 2020; Saunders et al, 2017) combined WBTB with the MILD technique. Second, researchers sometimes confused the operation of WBTB with that of MILD (Dyck et al, 2017; Schredl et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review of new empirical data on lucid dream induction techniques

Tan

Fan

2022

Journal of Sleep Research

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Lucid dreams are defined as dreams in which the dreamers are aware of the fact that they are dreaming as dreams continue. It has been $12 years since the last review of the efficiency of lucid dream induction techniques was conducted. Hence, the present study aimed to review the lucid dream induction techniques published in the past decade. The second aim was to propose a modified classification for the existing lucid dream induction techniques, including cognitive techniques, external stimulation, substance intervention, and cortical stimulation. The third aim was to assess the methodological quality of the studies included in the review. It was hypothesised that, comparing with the studies included in the last review, the studies included in the present review had better overall methodological quality. A total of 19 peerreviewed studies were included and analysed in the present review, from which 14 lucid dream induction techniques were identified. The results indicated that the

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“…There are also citizen science groups that meet regularly in real life to discuss scientific topics or even conduct their own scientific studies: the 'Student Initiative Sleep and Dream' at Osnabrück University (Germany), for example, conducts sleep experiments without any professional supervision in their own polysomnographic sleep laboratory, and publishes some of their results in scientific journals (e.g. Appel et al, 2020). Another group of sleep and dream citizen scientists formed an independent nonprofit research institute: the Institute of Sleep and Dream Technologies (www.sd20.org).…”

Section: From Citizen Science To Citizen Neurosciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen neuroscience: wearable technology and open software to study the human brain in its natural habitat

Esfahani¹,

Sikder²,

Horst³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Citizen science allows the public to participate in various stages of scientific research, including study design, data acquisition, and analysis of the resulting data. Citizen science has a long history in several fields of the natural sciences, and with recent developments in technology, neuroscience has also become more accessible to citizen scientists. This development was largely driven by the development of minimal sensing systems for the consumer market, allowing for do-it-yourself (DIY) or quantified-self (QS) investigations of an individual's brain. While most subfields of neuroscience require sophisticated monitoring devices in the laboratory, the study of sleep characteristics has been widely embraced by citizen neuroscientists, likely due to the strong influence of sleep quality on waking life and an increasingly broad accessibility of relevant non-invasive consumer devices. Here, we introduce into the emerging field of citizen neuroscience, illustrating examples of citizen neuroscience projects in the field of sleep research. We then give an overview on wearable technologies for tracking human neurophysiology, and on open software to run them, each with unique capabilities and intended purposes. Finally, we discuss chances and challenges in citizen neuroscience research, and suggest how to improve studying the human brain outside the laboratory.

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Inducing signal-verified lucid dreams in 40% of untrained novice lucid dreamers within two nights in a sleep laboratory setting

Cited by 11 publications

References 9 publications

Combining Wake-Up-Back-to-Bed with Cognitive Induction Techniques: Does Earlier Sleep Interruption Reduce Lucid Dream Induction Rate?

Combining Wake-Up-Back-to-Bed with Cognitive Induction Techniques: Does Earlier Sleep Interruption Reduce Lucid Dream Induction Rate?

A systematic review of new empirical data on lucid dream induction techniques

Citizen neuroscience: wearable technology and open software to study the human brain in its natural habitat

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