Neuroscience of consciousness
January 1, 2017
Tore Nielsen
57 citations
Sleep onset normally happens quickly and without notice, but in the lab it reveals how waking, perceptually grounded consciousness shifts into the hallucinatory simulations of dreaming. This review focuses on imagery during the sleep-onset transition—especially "microdreams"—as an alternative to studying dreaming in the traditional sleep lab. Preliminary work on microdream phenomenology has helped classify dreaming's core features (the "oneiragogic spectrum"), assess multiple memory inputs ("multi-temporal memory sources"), identify two new imagery types ("autosensory imagery" and "exosensory imagery"), and embed microdreaming in a "multisensory integration approach." These efforts may clarify dream neurophysiology and dreaming's role in memory consolidation, and advance the neuroscience of consciousness.
Consciousness and cognition
August 1, 2020
Claudia Picard-Deland, Maude Pastor, Elizaveta Solomonova et al.
25 citations
Flying dreams, though common, rarely occur. In a study with 137 participants, a virtual reality flying task followed by a morning nap increased reports of flying dreams during the nap and the following morning, compared to baseline rates and a control group. These dreams also showed greater lucid control and emotional intensity. Prior dream-flying experience and the level of VR sensory immersion influenced induction. The results support a vection-based explanation of dream-flying and could aid in developing dream flight-induction technologies.
Consciousness and cognition
August 1, 2020
Cloé Blanchette-Carrière, Sarah-Hélène Julien, Claudia Picard-Deland et al.
20 citations
The neurophysiological basis of self-awareness during sleep (lucid dreaming) is still poorly understood. Previous work suggested that transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) during sleep could increase dream self-awareness, but methodological flaws in those studies motivated a new investigation. In the current study, both tACS and a sham procedure were associated with signal-verified and self-rated lucid dreams, indicating that situational factors, rather than the stimulation itself, may be critical for inducing self-awareness during sleep.
Sleep
July 11, 2022
Claudia Picard-Deland, Max-Antoine Allaire, Tore Nielsen
5 citations
Frequent lucid dreamers show better static balance, as measured by lower center of pressure velocity on a force plate, compared to other participants, partially supporting a vestibular contribution to lucid dreaming. In a study of 131 adults who kept dream logs and performed balance tasks, lucid dreaming frequency correlated globally with better balance. Flying sensations in men's dreams and greater dream control in women's dreams were also linked to better balance. However, body height and sleepiness confounded some effects. The findings support the view that the vestibular system underlies basic aspects of bodily self-consciousness, such as self-agency and self-location, during both wakefulness and dreaming.
Oxford Handbooks Online
April 5, 2018
Tore Nielsen
1 citation
The fleeting dream images of sleep onset, called microdreams, are briefer and simpler than REM dreams and more accessible to study. Examining their phenomenology has helped develop a classification system for dreaming's core features (Windt's oneiragic spectrum), establish a structure for assessing dreaming's multiple memory inputs, uncover two new types of imagery (autosensory and exosensory), and provide a framework for explaining microdreaming processes through multisensory integration. Continued focus on microdream neurophenomenology may help resolve questions about dreaming's core features, brain correlates, and memory sources.