Lucid dreaming is a surreal phenomenon in which people are consciously aware that they are in a dream. Çağatay Demirel, from Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Medical Center, and colleagues shed light on the neural correlates of lucid dreaming in their JNeurosci paper.
The researchers used a rigorous processing pipeline as they collected and assembled data from multiple labs to create what is, according to the authors, the largest sample size to date for this field of research. Comparisons of brain activity during lucid dreaming, rapid eye movement sleep, and wakefulness revealed distinct activity patterns for lucid dreaming. These unique patterns reflect shifts in brain region activation and how brain regions communicate that may be linked to changes in perception, memory processing, self-awareness, and cognitive control. According to Demirel, “This research opens the door to a deeper understanding of lucid dreaming as an intricate state of consciousness by pointing to the possibility that conscious experience can arise from within sleep itself. This work offers a perspective that could challenge the traditional binary view of sleep and wakefulness in future research.”
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About JNeurosci
JNeurosci was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship.
About The Society for Neuroscience
The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries.
JNeurosci
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2237-24.2025
People
Electrophysiological Correlates of Lucid Dreaming: Sensor and Source Level Signatures
21-Apr-2025
The authors declare no actual or apparent commercial interest in the material presented in this paper.