Metacognitive Mechanisms Underlying Lucid Dreaming
Journal of Neuroscience January 21, 2015 Elisa Filevich, Martin Dresler, Timothy R. Brick et al. 89 citations
People who frequently have lucid dreams—dreams in which they know they are dreaming—show structural and functional differences in a brain region linked to self-reflection and thought monitoring. The frontopolar cortex (BA9/10) contained more gray matter in high-lucidity dreamers compared with low-lucidity dreamers, and this same area showed stronger activity during a thought-monitoring task in the high-lucidity group. The findings suggest that lucid dreaming and metacognitive abilities share common neural systems, offering insight into how higher-order consciousness can arise during sleep.