Lucid Dreaming
Loren Baxter Will Barley
Paul Albicker
Sydney Thomas
Brief Overview
Introduction to Lucid Dreaming (Loren)
Physiological Correlates (Will)
Clinical Applications of LD (Paul)
Cognitive Implications (Sydney)
Q & A
What is a Lucid Dream?
A state where the subject is conscious that they are dreaming.
The dreamer can have different levels of consciousness:
They can simply understand the fact that they are dreaming, or
They can choose how to act and even exhibit
conscious control over the dream environment
Lucid Dreaming in the Past
LD was too difficult to study because lucid dreams are normally rare
Only about 20% of the population reports having one or more LD’s per month
Studying them would require keeping
subjects in a lab for months at a time
Stephen LaBerge
Proved in 1980 self-study that Lucid Dreaming is a Learnable skill
Motivation and practice
Developed MILD method (Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dream)
Extended study to a group of 5 subjects
in 1981
How to
MILD (Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dream)
Become conscious during REM
WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dream)
Fall asleep but maintain consciousness
Aides
Reality Checks
Retail Products
MILD
Consciousness occurs during REM sleep
Steps:
1) Set alarm to wake a few hours early
2) Immediately rehearse dream
3) 15 minutes of wakeful activity
4) Mantras and visualization: “I will realize I’m dreaming”
5) Repeat step 4 until asleep
WILD
Occurs during hypnogogic state
Steps:
1) Relaxation
2) Fall asleep, maintain consciousness
Count: “1, I’m dreaming, 2, I’m dreaming…”
Pay attention to and count breaths
Imagine self descending stairs, count steps
Aides
Reality Checks
Habitually check whether you are dreaming
Commercial Products
Eyewear detects REM sleep, shines dim light into eyes
Computer software produces sounds during the night
Things to do during MILD (Games, etc.)
Methods for Studying LDs
How do the researchers know when you are in a lucid dream?
Trained to clench hands/ move eyes while in a lucid dream
Accurate measure in 90% of reported lucid
dreams studied.
A Distinct Altered State?
How is an LD different from daydreaming?
“Lucid dreamers are conscious of the
absence of the sensory input from the
external world…” -Laberge
Physiological Correlates
Typically occur in phasic (active) REM sleep.
Usually occur in the later sleep cycles
Characterized by greater arousal than NLD
sleep
Physiological Correlates
Conscious Control?
Many interesting willful actions may be preformed while in a LD
Control of respiration
Clenching of fists results in detectable movement of arm muscles
Sense of time remains intact
Therapeutic Values
LD can help treat recurring nightmares
5 case studies using LD
One year follow up 4 no longer had
nightmares, 1 had experienced a decrease in intensity and frequency
Becoming lucid, individual may directly
alter the content of the nightmare
Recurring Nightmares
LD allows one to realize that the experience is a dream
Interactions with dream imagery can be altered, reducing uncontrollability
Also reduce perceived importance
Insight
Subjects interact with dream in a creative fashion
LD lead to important insight
Family, loved ones
Overcome or better adapt to its handicaps
Traditional Theories-Freud
Dreaming and waking cognition are discontinuous
Dreaming Cognition
Bizarre, “magical-thinking”
Waking Cognition
High degree of rationality, order and clarity
Discontinuity Theories
Reflective awareness
A conscious awareness of an ongoing internal or external event
“the mind not only knows the things that appear before it; it knows that it knows them”-William James
Hallmark of waking mind, lose capacity during sleep
Hobson
Abstract self-reference and a self-critical perspective are
lost during dreaming.
Kahan & LaBerge (1994)
Phenomenon of lucid dreaming casts doubt on the common view that
cognition during dreaming is inherently deficient
Study by Kahan, LaBerge, Levitan and Zimbardo (1997)
Conducted study to assess the cognitive,
metacognitive and emotional qualities of
recent waking and dreaming experiences.
Study (1997)-Kahan, LaBerge, Levitan and Zimbardo
Group 1=38 practiced dreamers
Group 2=50 “novice dreamers”
Methods
Record experiences from prior dreaming or waking episode
Fill out parallel questionnaires for a
dreaming and a waking experience
Methods
Dreaming state
Report most clearly recalled dream
Answer questions assessing…
Choice, internal commentary, sudden/sustained attention, public self-consciousness
related/unrelated to target event, private self- consciousness (self-reflection), emotion and unusual experience
Waking state
Report experiences from a prior 15-min period
Answer same questionnaire
Results-Comparisons
Waking episodes
Higher frequency of choice and self-reflection
Dreaming episodes
Public self consciousness, emotion
No Diff=internal commentary
No systematic differences between practiced and novice dreamers were observed.
W/exception of questions of attention
Concerns
Cognition of waking episodes might be
correlated to characteristics of retrospective evaluations of waking cognition
Public-self consciousness suggests there is a self-critical perspective in dreaming…but might be due to solitary conditions of reporting
waking experiences
Measurements are indirect
Narrative reports
Individuals’ recollections made in waking state
However…
Study not restricted to individuals practiced in dream recall or self-observation
Few differences between groups
None of the measured features was absent or infrequent in reports of either
experience
Recollections of dreaming and waking experiences were similar for some
cognitive features and different for others
Implications
Episodic recollections of waking/dreaming experiences more similar than different
Differences are more quantitative than qualitative
Did not reveal global deficiencies between experiences
All measured dimensions present in both
experiences
Conclusion
Lucid Dreaming is a distinct altered state of consciousness
Studies with LD offer insight into the
world of dreams, a long discussed topic of psychology and cogsci
The differences between the sleeping
and waking levels of consciousness are
not as disparate as previously believed
Questions
What do you think about the methods used to study LD?
Is LD an epiphenomenon of REM
During LD's, is cognition deficient or adapted to the context of an abstract environment?
What does this suggest about sleep/dreaming
and consciousness?
References
Blagrove, M, and S.J. Hartnell. "Lucid Dreaming: Associations With
Internal Locus of Control, Need for Cognition and Creativity." Personality and Individual Differences 28 (2000): 41-47.
Green, C.E.. Lucid Dreams. Oxford: Institute of Psychophysical Research, 1968.
Kahan, Tracey L., et al. "Similarities and Differences between Dreaming
and Waking Cognition: An Exploratory Study." Consciousness and Cognition 6 (1997): 132-147.
LaBerge, Stephen P. "Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of
Consciousness during REM Sleep." Sleep and Cognition (1990): 109-126.
LaBerge, Stephen P. "Lucid Dreaming as a Learnable Skill: A Case Study."
Perceptual and Motor Skills 51 (1980): 1039-1042.
Zadra, Antonio L; Pihl, Robert O. “Lucid dreaming as a treatment for
recurrent nightmares.” Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics. Vol 66(1), Jan-Feb 1997, pp. 50-55
