Scientists have discovered that it is possible to induce “lucid” dreaming in sleepers by applying mild electrical currents to their scalps, a study says.
Lucid dreaming is when a sleeper recognizes they are dreaming and may even be able to manipulate the dream’s plot and control their behavior.
“The key finding is that you can, surprisingly, by scalp stimulation, influence the brain. And you can influence the brain in such a way that a sleeper, a dreamer, becomes aware that he is dreaming,” said Harvard Medical School professor J. Allan Hobson, who co-authored the paper published in Nature Neuroscience.
Previous research, led by Ursula Voss of Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Germany, suggests that lucid dreaming is a unique state that displays aspects of both rapid eye movement (REM)-sleep — the stage of sleep in which most of our dreams occur — and waking.
By examining the brainwaves of sleepers over a range of frequencies, scientists have found that lucid dreamers demonstrate a shift toward a more “awake-like” state in the frontal and temporal parts of the brain, with the peak in increased activity occurring at about 40Hz.
“Lucid dreaming is a very good tool to observe what happens in the brain and what is causally necessary for secondary consciousness,” Voss said.
Now Voss and her team have reported that it is possible to induce lucid dreaming by delivering electrical stimulation, in the form of an alternating current to a sleeper’s scalp at that frequency.
The study involved 27 volunteers, none of whom had experienced lucid dreaming before.
The researchers waited until the volunteers were experiencing uninterrupted REM sleep before applying electrical stimulation to the frontal and temporal positions of the volunteers’ scalps.
The applied stimulation had a variety of frequencies between 2Hz and 100Hz. Between five and 10 seconds later, the volunteers were roused from their sleep and asked to report on their dreams. Brain activity was monitored continuously throughout the experiment.
The results showed that stimulation at 40Hz resulted in an increase in brain activity of about the same frequency in the frontal and temporal areas. A similar, but smaller effect was observed at 25Hz.
They also found that such stimulation often, but not always, induced an increased level of lucidity in the dreams of sleepers. At higher or lower frequencies, or when no current was applied, no change in brain activity was observed.
Hobson said the study could have implications in psychiatric research.
“I would be cautious about interpreting the results as of direct relevance to the treatment of medical illnesses, but [it’s] certainly a step in the direction of understanding how the brain manages to hallucinate and be deluded,” Hobson said.
The authors suggest triggering lucid dreaming in sleepers might enable them to control nightmares, for example in those suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of