Which brain regions are active in lucid and regular dreams? This question was raised by a team of scientists from four countries under the direction of Xinlin Wang and including regular researchers in this field—Emma Peters, Martin Dresler, Daniel Erlacher, and the legendary Stephen LaBerge.
The authors recruited eight experienced lucid dreamers who spent one to thirty-two days in the laboratory. Upon becoming lucid in a dream, they were to provide the classic left/right eye movement signal. The scientists performed continuous EEG signal recording to track which EEG microstates (which show which brain regions are active) were predominant in lucid dreams and which were predominant in regular dreams.
The results showed that lucid dreams, compared to regular dreams, have the following features:
—more visual sensations
—higher cognitive control and metacognition
—fewer emotions
—less immersion in oneself and more interest in the surrounding space
Importantly, this was not a subjective assessment by the participants, as their reports were also collected. The conclusions were drawn from an analysis of brain microstates based on EEG data.
What differences between regular and lucid dreams could you add to this list?
The preprint of the article was published in February 2025 on bioRxiv.
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