AN INVESTIGATION INTO NEURAL CORRELATES OF LUCID DREAMING
“…During lucid dreaming the bilateral precuneus, cuneus, parietal lobules, and prefrontal and occipito-temporal cortices activated strongly as compared with non-lucid REM sleep…
…We further observed increased activation in bilateral frontopolar areas, which have been related to the processing of internal states, e.g., the evaluation of one’s own thoughts and feelings…
…The strongest increase in activation during lucid compared to non-lucid REM sleep was observed in the precuneus, a brain region that has been implicated in self-referential processing, such as first-person perspective and experience of agency…
…Interestingly, we found activation in the bilateral cuneus and occipitotemporal cortices. These areas are part of the ventral stream of visual processing, which is involved in several aspects of conscious awareness in visual perception. While these activations seem puzzling… they are in line with reports of lucid dreamers stating that lucidity is associated with an exceptional brightness and visual clarity of the dream scenery…
…lucid dreaming therefore fits well with the therapeutic effects of lucidity training on recurrent nightmares. If lucid dreaming can also be utilized in the treatment of other dream disorders like terrifying hypnogogic hallucinations or pathological dream vivification is an open question that warrants further investigation.” … – By Martin Dresler, PhD, Renate Wehrle, PhD, Victor I. Spoormaker, PhD, Stefan P. Koch, PhD, Florian Holsboer, MD, PhD, Axel Steiger, MD, Hellmuth Obrig, MD, Philipp G. Sämann, MD, and Michael Czisch, PhD – www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3369221/
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