“I was talking on the phone with a woman whose personality was not immediately clear in the dream. I had to explain to her how to find Georges Henry Street in Brussels, and I remember walking the city streets. She repeated the street name, and I told her how great it was that she could pronounce the French word so easily. Of course, I realized, that was because she was French. But then I felt puzzled, because I realized I was speaking Hungarian with her, meaning she was someone else, not my French friend. Suddenly, I realized that I was talking to my sister, of course I was, that became so obvious in the dream!”
Mixing up events, people, and facts is the norm for an ordinary dream. Paying attention to such inconsistencies, however, is one of the techniques used by lucid dreamers. In a recent publication, researchers from Hungary and Belgium (Simor, Bogdány, and Peigneux) have termed these inconsistencies “prediction errors.” For example, in the dream scenario above:
– the name of the Brussels street leads to the idea that the dreamer is in Brussels
– the French pronunciation leads to the understanding that the dreamer is talking to a French woman
– this leads to an error (language inconsistency), and in order to correct it, a new prediction is made changing the interlocutor’s identity
According to the authors, such prediction errors can produce moments of awareness. This is more likely in the case of lower-level errors that manifest themselves in specific details of the surrounding space and directly affect our senses, as in the example cited. Although higher-level errors (for example, the presence of two contradictory facts in the memory of a dreamer – “I failed my graduation exam” and “I am already full professor”) can also provoke lucidity (“This is not possible, therefore I must be dreaming”).
Prediction errors can also occur in lucid dreams (LD), however, the authors suggest that lucid dreams are perceived as less strange because, at lower levels, prediction errors are eliminated, and at higher levels, surprise is minimal. A lucid dreamer perceives any absurdities passively, thinking “anything strange can happen, because I am in a dream.”
As the researchers add, although prediction errors can lead to LD, they are not enough to maintain awareness. A strong focus on lower-level errors makes the brain too active and likely to awaken, while a shift toward higher-level prediction errors plunges the dreamer into a normal dream. Thus, for success in the practice of LD, dreamers should use well-known cognitive training techniques (for example, reality checks) and external stimulation during sleep (for example, using a mask).
Have you noticed a difference in lower-level and higher-level prediction errors? How do they affect the lucidity of your dreams?
The article was published in October 2022 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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