Despite the fact that lucid dreaming is experienced spontaneously by about 50% of the general population, scientists still cannot explain the mechanisms by which a person is able to realize that he/she is asleep.
In September 2020, a new study aiming to create a detailed typology of lucid dreaming triggers was published in the journal Dreaming. To achieve this objective, participants were asked to write about their most memorable lucid dream and identify what made them realize they were sleeping.
In total, out of the 148 participants who filled out the questionnaires, 91 people had experienced lucid dreams and were able to answer the questions about the quality of their awareness in detail. Thematic analysis of the responses allowed the researchers to come up with a classification that consisted of four main categories of triggers: anomaly identification, identification of a “sleep-like” quality, emotional arousal, and other.
The first group of triggers included anomalies that are incompatible with what usually happens in real life. This trigger was mentioned in 39.8% of responses, making it the most common.
The identification of a “dream-like” quality included the so-called “déjà rêvé” sensations – the realization that a person had already experienced a similar experience in a dream, or a recurring dream. In 29% of the responses, the participants reported that they became aware of themselves in a dream, experiencing strong emotional arousal. In a third of cases, a combination of triggers occurred simultaneously.
These findings indicate that further in-depth study of lucid dreaming triggers can be fruitful and help better understand the nature of the cognitive processes involved in achieving lucid dreaming.
