German scientists Victoria Amo, Nikolai Godt, Johannes Leugering, and the perpetual researcher on this topic, Kristoffer Appel, conducted another experiment on communicating with lucid dreamers in real-time. However, the participants were not asleep. Nevertheless, they were required to convey information through eye movements, which were recorded using electrooculography.
The gold standard for confirming lucidity in a dream is to have the lucid dreamer move their eyes to the left and right. This allows communication at a “yes/no” level or to convey numbers (as done in an experiment led by Karen Konkoly in 2021). But this is insufficient for complete communication. In 2022, researchers from REMspace first deciphered a phrase from a lucid dream, and a year later, they developed an artificial language called Remmyo.
Currently, German scientists have taken the classic eye signal method as a basis but have added vertical movements. The authors drew a 3×3 grid of nine cells: eight of them (all but the central one) contained letters of the English alphabet, with three to four letters in each cell. For instance, the top-left cell contained a, b, and c, the top-center cell contained d, e, and f, and so forth. Participants were required to close their eyes, mentally envision this grid, and move their eyes to the necessary cells to form words. Sensors affixed to their faces recorded the movements.
As the researchers note, this resembles the keypad on old phones, which had three to four letters on each button. Modern programs have no trouble deciphering messages produced using such a keypad and determining which specific letter was intended. Some participants conveyed text with 100% accuracy, while others made minor errors but still conveyed the intended meaning. The phrases were simple, for example: “Hello! This is a test message.”
In the second experiment, scientists simplified the grid further so that it comprised only five cells. As before, the central cell was empty (looking at the center indicated a space between words), while the remaining four (looking up, down, left, and right) contained letters – this time with six to eight letters in each cell. This increased the likelihood of errors in deciphering due to the abundance of variations but made it easier for participants to focus on the correct cell with their gaze.
The accuracy of deciphering was 77% in the first experiment and 97% in the second. The researchers note that the issue of speed is also being addressed: the average time a person spends in a lucid dream is about 14 minutes, and if, for example, Morse code were used (as suggested by other researchers), transmitting information would take a long time. With this method, participants were able to convey 26 letters in a minute. The authors add that, of course, the experiment needs to be repeated with lucid dreamers while they are dreaming.
What do you think about this technique?
The preprint of the article was published in December 2023 on PsyArXiv.
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