Karen Konkoly, a dedicated researcher of lucid dreaming from the USA, recently defended her doctoral dissertation, in which she presents the results of four experiments relating to the possibility of communicating with sleeping individuals in real time or influencing dream plots. These experiments dealt with four separate tasks, as described below.

1. Dialogue with lucid dreamers through mathematical tasks.
After confirming that a person was in a lucid dream, the scientists gave them a simple arithmetic problem (e.g., “What is eight minus six?”). The lucid dreamer had to respond with left-right eye movements. Half of the participants who achieved lucidity gave at least one correct answer.

2. Creating visual images in the brain.
Lucid dreamers opened and closed their eyes in a lucid dream. The researchers found that vision works differently while one is asleep than while one is awake.

3. Solving problems in a dream.
Participants were asked to think about problems they were facing in their waking lives. The scientists concluded that it is possible to manipulate the plot of a dream to find creative solutions to problems.

4. Communication with non-lucid dreamers.
Finally, the researchers began real-time communication with “ordinary” sleepers (i.e., those who do not realize what surrounds them is part of a dream). The scientists played sounds that induced a dream on a specific topic in order to influence the sleeper’s breathing. Devices confirmed a change in breathing and, accordingly, the experiment’s success.

Have you ever created a regular (non-lucid) dream on a set topic?

The dissertation was defended in December 2024 and is partially available on ProQuest.

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