For many people, dreams represent unlimited possibilities. Virtually anything your mind can imagine can be experienced through dreams, making it an endlessly rich research topic within the field of neuroscience. However, neuroscientists have had to be increasingly creative when it comes to creating research designs to study dreams, as many times, people cannot accurately report what dreams are like after waking. This blog post will examine two different articles that aim to learn more about dreams, how to access them, and the implications of being able to manipulate dreams. The first article discussed will be a recent study conducted by Konkoly et al., attempting to communicate with people who are asleep. The second article complements this topic by introducing a different perspective: nightmares and the emotional experiences behind them. Together, these articles will provide a bridge between the inner-workings of dreams and how new findings might be applied in clinical settings later on.
In a recent study, Konkoly et al. demonstrated that a person who is lucid dreaming can not only perceive questions posed by an experimenter in the real world but also respond with a variety of signals. Lucid dreaming is a skill that can be learned through practice that allows the dreamer to become aware that they are not experiencing reality, and can manipulate the dream environment. This usually occurs during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep, since it is the stage of sleep where the brain is highly active and dreams are more detailed and vivid. In order to communicate with dreamers who were lucid, the experimenters asked them questions via spoken voice or Morse code, displayed in flashing lights, to participants who were verified to be in REM sleep. Once the participants signaled that they were lucid within the dream, the experiment would begin, and they would use eye movements or facial muscles to respond to each question. They also asked questions to participants who were not lucid as a control. They found that many more questions were answered correctly or at all in the treatment group than in the control, suggesting that the questions and responses were intentional. Participants even reported hearing the questions in their dreams through distorted perceptions, such as on the radio, or from a god-like presence. Through accomplishing this experiment, Konkoly et al. were able to prove 2-way communication possible with people in a dream state, even if it was lucid.
In contrast to the study by Konkoly et al., a TIME article explores how nightmares occur and how neuroscientists are approaching treating them. The article explains that nightmares can be triggered by general temperament, past traumas, or daily stress. Recent studies have found correlations between activity in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, where threats are processed, and the experience of nightmares. The most common solutions for frequent nightmares are exposure therapy and image-rehearsal therapy, both of which help with unlearning negative associations that lead to nightmares. However, one of the suggested interventions was using lucid dreaming in order to take control during a nightmare. The theory is founded on the idea that awareness could help sufferers of nightmares navigate the experience or even escape it entirely, however, this raises concerns about the importance of nightmares in processing stress and what consequences there might be if nightmares are treated rather than the root cause of them.
Both of these articles, when read together, lead to significant implications. For example, if 2-way communication is possible during lucid dreaming, perhaps those who struggle with nightmares could start sleep therapy as a type of exposure. Then, instead of avoiding nightmares entirely, they could be integrated into treatment plans for people with PTSD and other disorders that involve sleep disturbances. Additionally, if nightmares are influenced by overactivity in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, 2-way communication during nightmares could help alleviate the emotional dysregulation that causes them. Furthermore, if the body can still perform functions during sleep, it would be important to research whether communicating and remaining conscious throughout sleep has any side effects, such as fatigue or drowsiness upon waking. Would repeated lucid dreaming and dream interruption result in the blending of REM and wakefulness? If conscious communication during REM can be safely studied, this research could be expanded to train participants to problem-solve or learn new information while asleep. From the evidence at hand, the most realistic next step for this kind of study seems to be a longitudinal study to see how this skill and consistency might develop over time or across different ages, and to examine possible side effects of practicing communication during REM sleep. However, more research must be done on the side effects of lucid dreaming and sleep interventions before these implications could ever become a reality.
References:
Konkoly, K. R., Appel, K., Chabani, E., Cloos, H., Kompier, M. E., Melnick, M., … & Paller, K. A. (2021). Real-time dialogue with a dreaming person is possible via eye movements and facial muscle signals. Current Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.026
Kluger, J. (2023, October 31). The science behind nightmares—and how to stop them. TIME Magazine. https://time.com/6328933/nightmares-science-treatment/
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