Nature communications
August 13, 2025
William Wong, Rubén Herzog, Kátia Cristine Andrade et al.
10 citations
A new open database, the DREAM database, combines standardized sleep magneto/electroencephalography (M/EEG) recordings with dream reports from 505 participants across 20 datasets, totaling 2,643 awakenings. Each awakening includes at least 20 seconds of high-resolution sleep EEG (≥100 Hz, ≥2 electrodes) and a classification of the sleeper's reported experience. Analyses showed that reports of conscious experiences during sleep can be predicted from objective EEG features in both REM and NREM sleep. The database aims to overcome limitations of small sample sizes and methodological variability in dream research, enabling larger-scale investigations of the neurocognitive basis of dreaming.
Neuroscience of consciousness
January 1, 2019
Jennifer M Windt
8 citations
A commentary on Nielsen's proposal that microdreams—experiences during the earliest stages of sleep onset—can reveal how dream imagery forms. The author examines microdreams through simulation views, which define dreaming as an immersive virtual-world experience centered on a virtual self, and evaluates expanding the oneiragogic spectrum to include kinesis. The conclusion is that although some microdreams may not qualify as minimal dreams, studying them can address key questions in dream research and may offer a distinct route to full dreaming.
Scientific reports
March 13, 2024
Matt P D Gwyther, Bigna Lenggenhager, Jennifer M Windt et al.
3 citations
People with stronger depersonalisation traits—feeling detached from their own body—report more frequent dreams from an outside-observer perspective and more dreams with distinct or altered bodily sensations, along with more nightmares and higher dream recall. They also show weaker body boundaries and less trust in internal bodily signals while awake. These findings suggest that dreaming does not provide a temporary escape from depersonalisation symptoms; instead, the dream state mirrors the waking disruptions in sense of self and body.
Neuroscience of consciousness
January 1, 2025
Jasmine Walter, Thomas Andrillon, Jennifer M Windt
Spontaneous thoughts and experiences (STE), such as mind wandering and dreaming, may occur in patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC). The evidence is indirect and inconclusive, but suggests STE could affect diagnosis, which currently focuses on detecting consciousness. Understanding these experiences might also illuminate subjective experience and quality of life in DoC, about which little is known. Because diagnostic decisions can have life-or-death consequences, it is important to use measures sensitive to internally directed conscious experiences. Further research is needed to explore STE in DoC and its implications for quality of life.