How Can Eye Movements Help Us Understand Lucid Dreaming?

How Can Eye Movements Help Us Understand Lucid Dreaming?

In the article, What Lucid Dreams Look Like, Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde, professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center writes about how eye tracking further informs the study of lucid dreaming. A lucid dreamer herself, Dr. Martinez-Conde uses an example from two of her prior lucid dreaming episodes to explain the difference between eye movements that occur when viewing real objects versus when imagining objects, such as when dreaming. Dr. Martinez-Conde recalls being able to fly and joining a flock of birds in a lucid dream which felt very real to her while she experienced it. She explains that the smooth pursuit movements used to explore objects in motion and other details in one’s visual field are only observed when people are observing real objects. Dr. Martinez-Conde references work done at Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison which provided evidence that smooth pursuit movements are not observed in people when they are imagining the movement of objects. 

Researchers Stephen LaBerge, Benjamin Baird, and Philip G. Zimbardo used both EEG and electrooculography (EOG) to observe brain activity and eye gaze while sleeping participants were imagining objects during lucid dreams. These participants were frequent lucid dreamers that were instructed to use LRLR eye movement signals to let the researchers know that they were having a lucid dream and that they were now in control of their dream. At this point, the participants imagined a series of previously agreed-upon objects. The results of this study suggested that the eye movements while tracking objects while dreaming are more similar to object tracking that occurs while awake compared to tracking that occurs during imagination. More specifically, while imagining objects while lucid dreaming, more smooth pursuit movements were observed compared to the saccadic movements that occur while imagining objects. Although this is not an example of two-way communication, the sleeping participants are still providing important information to the researcher about what they are experiencing while asleep. Even if communication is only occurring one way, this still allows researchers the opportunity to answer a variety of questions about the cognitive processes that the participants are engaging in while asleep using EEG, EOG, and brain imaging techniques. 

Dr. Martinez-Conde’s article works in support of one of Karen Konkoly’s main arguments that sleeping individuals can still respond to researchers in a productive way while asleep and provide researchers with useful data. In this case, the researchers provide a basis for future studies in terms of potential physiological markers that may confirm or suggest that a participant is tracking an object in motion while dreaming. Additionally, this smooth pursuit movement cannot be faked, as noted by Dr. Martinez-Conde, and appears different from imaginary object tracking and real object tracking while awake. Therefore, this may be a way for researchers to check whether or not the participant has woken themselves up while moving their eyes to indicate the start of a lucid dream. This was a concern presented by Konkoly as she encouraged future research to consider methods that optimize this procedure to prevent participants from waking as they indicate the start of their lucid dream.

Konkoly, K., Appel, K., Chabani, E., Mironov, A. Y., Mangiaruga, A., Gott, J., Mallett, R., Caughran, B., Witkowski, S., Whitmore, N., Berent, J., Weber, F., Pipa, G., Türker, B., Maranci, J. B., Sinin, A., Dorokhov, V., Arnulf, I., Oudiette, D., . . . Paller, K. (2020). Real-Time Dialogue between Experimenters and Dreamers During rem Sleep. SSRN Electronic Journal. Published. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3606772

LaBerge, S., Baird, B., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2018). Smooth tracking of visual targets distinguishes lucid REM sleep dreaming and waking perception from imagination. Nature Communications, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05547-0

Martinez-Conde, S. (2018, September 7). What Lucid Dreams Look Like. Scientific American Blog Network.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/illusion-chasers/what-lucid-dreams-look-like/