Sounds of lucidity: Auditory stimulation for triggering reality checks in lucid dream induction.

Abstract

The surreal aspects of our dreams are often accepted as real, without evoking any scrutiny or doubt. Yet, in some instances, critical evaluation of the dream world elicits an understanding of its inherent, often misleading, reality. The present sleep laboratory study investigated the efficacy of lucid dream induction using a combination of two lucid dream induction techniques. The presentation of an external stimulus (auditory stimulus: “You are dreaming”) was coupled with the performance of a reality check during an additional presleep learning phase. The subsequent auditory stimulation during rapid eye movement sleep aimed to elicit a reality check during a dream, consequently evoking dream lucidity. Six out of 11 participants (54.5%) subjectively reported experiencing a lucid dream and in three participants (27.3%), and three out of 36 rapid eye movement phases (8.3%), these lucid dreams were physiologically verified by the electrooculogram signal. This study further highlights the importance of verifying each step in the lucid dream induction protocol: the effectiveness of reality checks, their integration into dreams, and the subsequent connection to evoked lucid dreams. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)