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.
Vipassana meditation practitioners show different patterns of how sleep consolidates procedural memories compared to non-meditators. The study compared overnight memory retention in meditators and controls, finding that meditators exhibited distinct consolidation processes, suggesting that long-term meditation practice alters sleep-dependent memory processing.