Dream And Dreamer

Stephen LaBerge The Lucidity Institute, Stanford CA 94309 ABSTRACT : Lucid dreaming provides a test case for theories of dreaming. For example, whether or not "loss of self-reflective awareness" is characteristic of dreaming, it is clearly not necessary to dreaming. Theories of dreaming that do not account for lucidity are incomplete, and theories that do not allow for lucidity are incorrect. The fact that lucid dreamers can remember to perform predetermined actions and signal to the laboratory allows them to mark the time of particular dream events accurately, allowing experiments to establish precise correlations between physiology and subjective reports, and enabling the methodical testing of hypotheses. Just as dreaming provides a test case for theories of consciousness, lucid dreaming provides a test case for theories of dreaming. Although one is not usually explicitl...

Lucid Dreaming Physiologically Verified Although we are not usually explicitly aware of the fact that we are dreaming while we are dreaming, at times a remarkable exception occurs, and we become conscious enough to realize that we are dreaming. "Lucid" dreamers (the term derives from van Eeden, 1913) report being able to freely remember the circumstances of waking life, to think clearly, and to act deliberately upon reflection, all while experiencing a dream world that seems vividly real (Green, 1968; LaBerge, 1985; Gackenbach & LaBerge, 1988). This is all in contrast to the usual past characterization of dreams as typically lacking any reflective awareness or true volition (Rechtschaffen, 1978). Lucid dreaming is normally a rare experience. Though most people report having had a lucid dream at least once in their lives, only about 20% of the population reports having lucid dreams once a month or more (Snyder & Gackenbach, 1988). In spite of the fact that mos...

Lucid dreaming is a learnable, but difficult skill. Consequently, we have sought methods for helping dreamers to realize that they are dreaming by means of external cues applied during REM sleep, which if incorporated into dreams, can remind dreamers that they are dreaming. Here we report on an experiment testing the validity and effectiveness of a portable computerized biofeedback device (DreamLight) designed to deliver light cues during REM sleep. The 14 subjects used DreamLights on 4 to 24 nights. They were unaware that the DreamLights were specially programmed to deliver cues only on alternate nights. Eleven subjects reported 32 lucid dreams, 22 from nights with light cues, 10 from nights without cues. All lucid dreams scored (by judges blind to DreamLight condition) as being "cued" by the DreamLight's stimuli occurred on nights when the DreamLight was actually delivering cues. Subjects reported seeing in their dreams what they believed to be DreamLight cues signifi...